


Allure Of Gold

by ElisaPhoenix



Series: Marvel What If's [11]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alpha Peter Quill, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - High School, Car Accidents, Hurt Peter Quill, M/M, Meredith Quill Lives, Omega Scott Lang, POV Peter Quill, Peter Quill Feels, Protective Peter Quill, Scott Lang Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:14:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 25,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25683379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElisaPhoenix/pseuds/ElisaPhoenix
Summary: Everyone says that Alphas and Omegas can't be just friends but that’s not true, right?...right?!
Relationships: Peter Quill/Scott Lang
Series: Marvel What If's [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1519460
Comments: 15
Kudos: 83





	1. Chapter 1

He was amazed that he even found him in the pouring rain. He was driving past the park when he had the sudden urge to stop and explore, and that was where he found the omega. He was dressed in dark clothes and Quill could barely make out honey-gold eyes under the dark hood. What he did see of them were glazed over from the fever that the alpha could sense and every bit of him screamed to protect. To take care of the omega. He knew this omega from school but only from sight, and even then Quill was curious about him. He was quiet and kept to himself.

He wondered why he was out here in this storm. He was clearly sick.

"Hey," Quill calls softly and waits until golden eyes look up at him. "Come on."

He slowly reaches out to put an arm behind the omega's shoulders and then under his knees, wincing when he feels the younger's soaked clothes. Quill lifts him up and carries him out of the gazebo the omega had taken shelter under and rushes to his car where he lays the younger down in the back seat. The alpha quickly removes his jacket and lays it over the shivering omega and closes the door to round the car to the driver's side, and gets in before driving off.

The omega only whined once during the trip to Quill's house, and the older teen was quick to soothe him with a gentle rumble. The second he pulled into the driveway, Quill got out of the car, retrieved the omega from the back seat and rushed inside.

"Mom!" Quill calls as he climbs the stairs two at a time up to his room. There, he sets the younger teen down on the bed just as his mother rushes in.  
"What's wrong Peter?" Meredith asks, and then notices the boy on her son's bed. "Who is that?"  
"A classmate." Quill partially lies. "He's really sick. I found him at the park on the way home."  
"In this weather?!" Meredith rushes forward and places her hand on the younger omega's forehead. "Help me get his clothes off and then find something dry for him to wear."

Quill nods and helps his mother strip the younger teen completely before getting him under the blankets, and the alpha immediately finds a t-shirt to put on his schoolmate. He didn't bother with bottoms or underwear since Quill was much bigger than the omega and they would fall right off if he were to get up. He and his mother help the omega into the shirt and then lay him back down before Meredith briefly leaves to get some medicine and some wet washcloths for his fever.

The sick omega had long since passed out, otherwise he _might_ have struggled. As Quill watches his mother place a cold cloth on the boy's head, he wracks his brain for the omega's name. When nothing comes to him, he walks into his closet and grabs the yearbook from last year, thankful that he at least remembered the teen in his bed was currently a sophomore. After some searching through the freshman pictures, Quill finally identified the omega as Scott Lang.

Quill wished he knew what Scott smelled like. He only knew he was an omega because there was a faint smell to him, but it was the usual neutral scent. He couldn't smell anything that was exclusively Scott except for _sick_. No gentle smells. Alphas also had a neutral scent, but Quill's identifying scents were apparently cinnamon and pine according to his mother and his friends.

"Peter." Meredith calls softly, and Quill puts the yearbook back before joining her at the bed. "Sit with him so I can make him some soup."  
"Yeah, sure."  
"Keep the cloth cold." She tells him as she leaves the room and Quill sits in the chair he pulls away from his desk.

His mother was likely going to make the soup from scratch, so while Quill sat with Scott, he turned the TV on to a low volume to watch. Periodically he would flip the cloth on Scott's forehead or get up to get it cold again, and it was about an hour into this routine that the omega finally came around. Honey-gold eyes open slowly and blearily look around until finally resting on the alpha. Scott still looked a little out of it and didn't seem to process where he was or what he was looking at until a few moments later when his eyes seemed to clear a bit. Quill expected him to bolt out of bed or something similar to that, but he just laid there.

"Where am I?" Scott finally mumbles and Quill get up slowly so he doesn't startle the omega.  
"My house." He says simply. "Want some water?"

Scott furrows his brows but nods, and Quill grabs the water bottle his mother had left and opens it. He holds it over to the omega, but when Scott lifts an arm to take it, the alpha frowns when he watches it shake. Instead, he kneels on the bed and helps Scott sit up before holding the bottle to his mouth. The omega takes a few gulps before pushing it away, and Quill helps him lay back down.

"Do you know who I am?" The alpha asks softly.  
Scott nods. "Quill."  
"Okay. Good. What were you doing at the park?" He wonders.  
"Needed shelter." The omega admits quietly and Quill frowns.  
"Where do you live? What about your parents?"  
"...they're not around." Scott tells him softly. "Been on the streets."

Quill's heart broke. It was incredibly unsafe for an omega to live on the streets whether or not they were taking suppressants, and the alpha had a feeling that Scott didn't have access to those. His alpha screamed at him to hold and soothe the omega, but he pushed down that instinct. It might not be welcome right now.

"Did...did anyone touch you?" Quill asks and exhales loudly with relief when Scott shakes his head. "My mom is making you soup. Are you hungry?"  
"A little." Scott murmurs into the blankets, and Quill laughs when the omega's stomach quite loudly tells him otherwise.  
"It should be done any minute. I'm sure Mom will have you eat and then take some medicine." He looks at the tv and points to it. "Any requests?"  
"This is fine." The omega says and curls into the bed and blankets, purring quietly when he's surrounded by the smell of alpha.

Quill's pretty sure that Scott doesn't even realize he's doing it but it makes him happy regardless. They watch TV in silence until Meredith comes up with a bowl of soup and she smiles when she sees the younger omega awake and purring softly. She sets the bowl on the nightstand as she sits on the edge of the bed and uses her hand to gauge the teen's temperature.

"Feels like your fever went down a bit. Think you can hold down some food?" Meredith asks gently and Scott nods. She helps him sit up and adjusts the pillows so he can sit against them and hands him the bowl. "Eat as much as you can. Peter and I will get the spare bedroom set up for you."  
"...thank you." Scott murmurs before he starts working on the soup, and Quill follows Meredith out of the room when she motions for him to follow.

Getting the room clear for Scott's use didn't take much time. Meredith changed the bedding with some new sheets she had laying around and would be neutral for Scott (who would undoubtedly nest with it), and Quill helped move out the few boxes that were sitting in the room. They were easily relocated to a shelf in the garage, and when they were finished, Meredith used some scent neutralizers around the room to help keep Scott's stress down and so he could make the room his own. Quill had a feeling his mother knew Scott would be here longer than overnight.

It must be an omega thing. That kind of perception.

"Did he tell you anything?" His mother asks him as she stocks the connecting bathroom with essentials.  
"Just that his parents aren't around and that he's been on the streets." Quill answers with an annoyed grunt.  
"I had a feeling it was something like that. I didn't see any signs of physical abuse, so while that doesn't mean he's not a runaway, it's less likely." She sighs.  
"I don't think he ran away." Quill says as he dusts off the furniture and the tv. "At least this tv will finally see some use again."  
"Alright, I think we've done everything we need to. Let's get him in here so he can get comfortable." Meredith says. "While I'm sure your scent is nice right now, it will get overwhelming and stressful soon, especially since nothing of his is around."  
"Yeah, okay." Quill nods and follows her back into his room.

What they walked in on was...pretty fucking adorable. Scott had finished his soup if the empty bowl on the nightstand was anything to go by, and had grabbed the soft throw blanket that had been folded up at the end of Quill's bed and wrapped it around himself. While they couldn't see much of the omega besides his hair, they could definitely hear his content purring. _So he liked nesting with soft things_ , Quill muses silently.

"Scott." The alpha calls softly. "I'm going to pick you up again and take you into the spare room okay?"  
"...kay." Scott mumbles quietly.

That was all the permission Quill needed to scoop up the omega, throw blanket and all. He was also glad that his shirt had been big enough to cover Scott's ass because _that_ would have been awkward and might have stressed out the omega even more. Thankfully, Scott didn't seem to notice his state of dress yet or did but considered it enough cover and didn't fuss about it. Quill was still careful carrying him to the other bedroom and deposited him into the bed there just as gently as he did when he first brought Scott home. When the omega got under the blankets and then held up the throw blanket to the alpha, Quill only smiled and pushed it back toward Scott.

"You hold onto that for now. It's helping right?"  
"...yeah." Scott admits quietly and pulls it around him again. "Thanks."  
"Get some rest." Meredith tells him gently. "If you need anything, just call for one of us alright?"

Scott nods and mumbles another thank you, and Quill hands him the tv remote before following his mother out of the room. He didn't want to hover (but boy did his alpha want to), so he opted to give Scott as much space as needed while he settled and recovered.

=========

The younger teen was back to good health after about a week, and during that week, Meredith made frequent trips to the store to buy Scott some other essentials, snacks, clothes, and most importantly...nesting material. She of course bought him some soft blankets that she knew he liked, but she also bought other things to let him choose from. Whatever he didn't like or want, she took back, and Scott seemed content with that. He did protest the first couple of days, but Meredith managed to convince him that he _needed_ these things. She even talked him into a trip to the store so he could pick out more clothes, get some school supplies, and more nesting items if he needed them.

Today, another week after Scott recovered, was the planned shopping trip, and Scott was still sleeping so Meredith sent Quill to wake the omega for breakfast. In the short time Scott had been staying there, he quickly got comfortable around the alpha, so what Quill did next only made the younger teen grumble in annoyance. 

He flopped onto the bed. Dramatically. 

"Breakfast is ready."  
"Urghhhh. Why are you like this?" Scott grumbles from under the covers.  
"Come on." Quill gets up and throws the covers off and scoops up the protesting omega to throw over his shoulder.  
"You barbarian!"

Quill snickers and walks out of Scott's room with the younger teen over his shoulder, and heads down to the kitchen. Scott was probably grateful that Meredith bought him some proper pajamas, otherwise he would be exposed for the household to see. Quill wasn't _that_ mean though. He wouldn't expose anyone like that, especially an omega. When Meredith looks up from the stove when the boys come in, she laughs when she sees her son's burden.

"Peter, did you even give him a chance to wake up?"  
"A full three seconds." Quill cackles as he finally sets Scott down.

Scott merely grumbles some more and sits at the table as Meredith brings a plate piled high with waffles over to the table. Quill sits down next to Scott as the omega grabs a couple of waffles, and Quill's grandfather walks in from the door to the garage. While Tim may have been a beta, Scott didn't seem as comfortable around him as he was with Quill and his mother. Meredith because she was an omega and doted on Scott, and Quill... probably because he was around Scott's age and wasn't a knothead. The alpha counted that as a win since the younger teen kept to himself at school.

"Smells great Mer. Any plans for today?" Tim asks as he washes his hands before joining them at the table.  
"Shopping trip with Scott. Do you need anything?" She asks.  
"I don't think so."

Breakfast passes with more small talk, and when Scott finishes his breakfast, he excuses himself to get ready. By the time Quill was done with his own meal and put his plate in the sink, Scott was out of the shower so the alpha went up to take a quick one before they left to go shopping. Once he was showered and dressed, he walked back downstairs where Meredith and Scott had been waiting and they left the house and got into Quill's car. 

"Scott...would you like to stay with us?" Meredith asks when she turns to look at the younger omega in the backseat. "Permanently I mean. Before you argue, you're not a burden or anything of the sort. It'll just be easier on you so you don't have to jump between houses when the system ends up finding you."  
Scott looks at her and then down at the sleeves of his sweater. _My sweater,_ Quill observes silently. "You would do that?" Scott asks quietly.  
"Of course." Meredith confirms softly.

While Scott still hadn't told them what happened to his parents to have him end up on the streets, he did confirm that they were _gone_. It threw Meredith into a frenzy to find out what she needed to do to keep him with them and the simple answer was that she needed to foster him. She talked to Quill about it, and the alpha had immediately agreed, and that only left Scott. His mother didn't bother talking to his grandfather since the beta tended to go with the flow of things and it was Meredith's house.

"...please?" Scott mumbles after a few moments of silence.  
"Of course, baby. I'll take care of everything." Meredith smiles and then turns back to face the front of the car again.

Relief flooded the interior of the car and settled the alpha in Quill, which had been grumbling for the past few days. He side eyes his mother, catching her giving him the same look, and then he looks back at the road to drive the rest of the way to the store in silence.

At least until Meredith turned on the radio.


	2. Chapter 2

Shopping took a couple of hours and it took all three of them to carry everything up to Scott's room so he could make it his own. He at first only let Meredith get him the necessary things, but then she convinced him into picking out more things. A few knick knacks as decoration, a decorative rug, things to nest with like soft blankets and a body pillow, clothes, and whatever else they could think of. After helping unload the bags, Quill and Meredith left him to set up his room the way he wanted it and took the bags to be recycled. 

Meredith sat at the kitchen table making calls about getting custody of Scott, and Quill sat on the couch to watch TV. He barely got into the show when Scott appeared at the top of the stairs looking unsure and Meredith looked up at him while she was put on hold.

"What's wrong baby?" She asks softly and Scott bites his lower lip.  
"Can...can I move the bed?" He asks.  
Meredith nods. "Of course. Peter, go help him."

Quill turns off the tv and gets up to climb the stairs and follow Scott back into his room and looks around. Nothing had been set up yet, but that was understandable if Scott wanted to move the furniture around first. The bed was a little heavy, and he imagined that Scott might have tried to move it himself and failed.

"Where do you want it?" Quill asks him and Scott points to the corner.  
"Up against the wall."  
"Sure."

The alpha walks over to the bed and shoves the bed up against the wall in the corner after a few grunts of exertion. When he looks back at Scott, he finds the omega looking around at the other furniture, and then to Quill's surprise, he asks for help moving them too. One nightstand gets moved next to the bed and then the dresser across from the bed since it held the tv, the second nightstand by the door, and the desk by the dresser. Once everything is in its place, Quill steps back and looks around again.

"There we go. That it?" He asks Scott.

The omega opens his mouth, but then closes it again as a blush warms his cheeks. He mumbles under his breath before sighing and grabbing one of his new blankets and holding it out to Quill with a darker blush. The alpha takes the blanket with visibly obvious confusion before the pieces finally click and he smiles. Scott wanted Quill to scent one of his blankets.

"I'll take this downstairs with me for now. I'll hold it until you're done up here. Okay?" He says.  
Scott nods. "Thank you." He says quietly as Quill leaves the room.

The alpha walks back downstairs to the living room, sits on the couch, and turns the tv back on. Meredith looks over at him curiously when she notices the blanket in his arms, but looks away when he simply answers by scenting it. Once he was done intentionally applying his scent to it, he draped it around his shoulders to let more of him soak into it while he watched TV. There was an occasional light thump that came from Scott's room, but nothing that alarmed him or his mother, and then there was silence after an hour passed. 

Just when Quill was about to get up and go check on Scott, the omega came down and went into the kitchen. He hears the sound of the fridge opening and closing, and then Scott walks into the living room, plopping onto the couch next to the alpha with a carton of orange juice. Quill snickers when Scott opens it and drinks straight from it, positive he would drain half of it before putting it down. That was one of the things that Scott smelled like. Oranges. At first Quill thought it was just because the omega drank a ton of it when he was sick, but it continued to stick to him. That and mint. When the smell of sick went away and Scott's identifying scents came back out, Quill had become addicted.

By some miracle, he was able to hang out with Scott like this without his alpha trying to smother the omega.

"Didn't Mom just buy that while we were shopping today?" Quill teases.  
Scott pulls the carton away from his mouth and licks his lips. "I'm thirsty."  
"Yeah, I can see that. Is there any left?" The alpha asks as he takes the carton and shakes it.

The amount of swishing he heard told him that Scott had already drank at least a third of the carton. Before the omega could take it back though, Meredith walked over to them from the table and took it.

"Baby, you won't have any orange juice if you keep drinking it like this." She lightly reprimands Scott. "I'll give you a limit of one glass a day if you keep this up."

Quill cackles when Scott pouts as she takes the juice back into the kitchen to return it to the fridge, but to make him feel better, the alpha pulls the blanket off of him and hands it to Scott. The younger teen takes it with a soft smile and immediately wraps himself up with it, curling against the couch and purring contently. Despite how closed off he was at school, Quill was glad to see him making himself at home and feeling comfortable enough to ask the alpha to scent some of his things so he could nest with them.

"Good enough?" Quill asks.  
"Mmhmm…" Scott hums. "What are you watching?"  
"Cartoons. The good kind that will make me want to strap a rocket to my back and try to fly with it." The laugh Quill got in response was music to his ears.

It made him recall his conversation with his mother a week after he brought Scott home. While the omega was sleeping, they were discussing the possibility of him staying permanently.

_You're the alpha of the house Peter. Which means he will likely follow his instincts to look to you for safety and to some degree, comfort. Either his alpha parent abandoned him, died, or maybe he never had one at all...but now it's you. There's only so much me and your grandfather can do for him. Take care of him. Protect him._

He had already planned on it when his mother came to him with that...request. Demand? Maybe it was more of a plea, but he assured her that he would. Especially at school. Scott's presence at his side would turn a few heads and send some murmurs through the rumor mill, but he would make sure no one tried anything.

"You'd think with all of those stupid and over the top contraptions, they would go as far as to have him build an electric fence all around the world to deep fry that bird." Scott mumbles.  
"Well then there wouldn't be a show." Quill answers. "It's supposed to be stupid. If he built that fence there wouldn't be a show anymore."  
Scott snorts. "You would think so, but that bird always manages to find a way around the traps."  
"That's true." Quill cackles. "So how'd your room turn out? You get it the way you want it?" He asks softly and Scott nods.  
"All that's missing is this." He says quietly and lifts a corner of the blanket that was currently wrapped around him.

The blanket Quill scented for him. It made him wonder…

"Hey...um...can I ask you a serious question?" Quill wonders and the omega looks at him suspiciously but nods all the same. "Did...well, have you ever had an alpha?"  
Scott looks away and down at the blanket he was gripping onto. "...no. My parents were betas. I've never really had a pack either so there's a lot going on here."

Quill nods and mentally files away that he needed to be careful about how he acted around Scott. At least for now. He wanted the younger teen to feel safe, comfortable, and at home here, and if he acted out in any way that could potentially scare Scott...well...he might risk the streets again. There were alphas at school of course, but they were hormonal teenagers that were typical knotheads. Quill could see how Scott might be nervous around them, and him, but he would prove he thought about more than his knot.

"You're safe here. I _promise_." Quill swears. "You've got one of each and you can go to any one of us for anything, alright?" When Scott nods again, the alpha grins. "You can even tell me to fuck off if you need to."  
Scott looks back at him in surprise. "I...really?"  
"Yup. Mom says I can be a little overbearing when I get protective or whatever, so if I ever do something that's too much, just say so."

Quill could almost see the equations writing themselves out in Scott's mind. The Alphas at school also acted like entitled assholes and always felt the need to remind omegas and betas that they were at the top of the hierarchy, and too often used their Voice to do so. It made Quill sick when he saw it happen, but an Alpha using their Voice to force submission was a huge no-no.

The first strike was suspension. The second was expulsion, and there was even a third. If a student had been expelled from another school for using their Voice, it could lead to jail time. The _only_ exception an Alpha could use their Voice to force an Omega to submit was if the Omega was in a fight or anything similar. It was just to try and stop a fight. 

Basically anything for the Alpha's gain or personal pleasure was the issue. There were some good ones at school, Quill being among them, and there had been a couple of times an omega had gone into heat at school. Either an alpha would escort them to the nurse if they could keep control of their instincts, or they would go find a staff member.

Quill would definitely be keeping a close eye on Scott from now on.

"Hey," Quill says, and Scott's eyebrows slightly lift to indicate he was listening. "I need you to know that I will _never_ use my Voice on you unless it was for your own safety."  
"I don't think an alpha ever has." Scott mutters and Quill sighs.  
"Hopefully it'll stay that way...and at school, if anything happens, you come find me, okay?"  
"...yeah." The omega says with a slight blush and then Quill stands after turning off the tv.  
"Can I see how your room turned out?"

To Quill's surprise, Scott nods and gets up after unwrapping the blanket from around himself, and then leads the way up to his room. The alpha knew to ask permission because he and Scott didn't have a familial bond (like he did with his mother and grandfather), or a pack bond, and wanted to respect Scott's space. His room was his safe place for nesting, to be left alone, and future heats.

And boy, if Scott wasn't taking heat suppressants, his next heat would probably hit Quill pretty hard too. The orange and sweet mint that the omega gave off was enticing, but if being able to sit with him like they had downstairs for as long as they did meant anything, the alpha would hopefully have enough restraint.

That was the hope anyway.

When they made it up to Scott's room and he opened the door, Quill looked around while the omega took the blanket over to his bed to add to his nest. The room definitely looked cozier and already smelt more like Scott, and it was...soothing. Quill kind of wanted to just lay on the floor and just...be. The aura was almost hypnotizing.

"Umm...Quill?" Scott says with some hesitance, and the alpha looks over at him. "Did I do something wrong?"  
Quill nearly gapes. "Wh-what? No! Of course not! What made you think that?"  
"Your eyes…" the omega trails off softly.

The alpha looks into a nearby mirror and swears softly when he finds the outer ring of his irises glowing red. He rubs at them pointlessly to try and get it to go away and tries to shake the brain fog caused by Scott's scent.

"I...err...you didn't do anything wrong. Your scent is just relaxing. It must have brought a little of my alpha out." Quill explains when he looks back at the omega. "Nothing bad, promise."  
Scott nods and then bites his lip. "At school...are you sure I can come find you? Or even go together?"  
"Yup. I was serious about that. Don't worry about what others might think alright? Anyway, your room actually feels like your room. Do you feel more at home now?" Quill asks and smiles when Scott nods.  
"Boys! What do you want for dinner? Spaghetti or tacos?"

Quill didn't miss the light of excitement in Scott's eyes when tacos were mentioned and he saunters out to the hallway to look over the banister at his mother.

"I think Scott would love you if you made tacos." He grins when the younger teen sputters beside him.  
Meredith laughs. "Tacos it is."


	3. Chapter 3

School had happened almost exactly as Quill predicted. But before they even got there, Meredith had given the boys each a bag for lunch and a few dollars in case they wanted anything extra. Sometimes the lunch his mother packed him wasn't enough so she started giving him some pocket money to get a slice of pizza or something. He was pretty sure Scott didn't eat like he did though, but he wasn't about to say anything. It was probably a habit for Meredith now, and maybe Scott would want to buy a cookie. The younger omega definitely wasn't used to packed lunches or extra money by the look on his face. When Meredith handed him a brown paper bag and five dollars, Scott gave her a look of confusion.

She merely waved them off and told them to have a good day and Scott shoved both into his backpack as he followed Quill out to his car. During the drive to school, Scott admitted to never having bagged lunches before. His parents paid for crappy cafeteria food.

"...I actually like the tacos though." Scott said as Quill pulled into the parking lot and parked.  
"I have a feeling you should smell like tacos." The alpha jokes and Scott shrugs. "You _devoured_ the ones Mom made for dinner the other night."  
"I've never had homemade tacos before." Scott admits quietly. "My mom cooked sometimes when she wasn't busy, but it was always stuff like spaghetti, meatloaf, or whatever could swim in gravy."  
"Well Mom makes everything. Don't be afraid to ask her if she can make something. There's always a good chance she'll say yes or make an attempt." Quill smiles. "Just don't ask for fish."  
Scott frowns a little. "What about fish tacos?"  
" _Especially_ not fish tacos!" Quill exclaims and Scott's eyes widen. "There was an incident with ceviche...and long story short, we were sick as dogs. I don't think any of us will touch fish with a twenty foot pole."  
"Oh...umm...noted." Scott says quietly.

He grabs his backpack and reaches out to open the door and Quill quickly reaches out to stop him. When the omega looks at him questionably, the alpha opens and closes his mouth before releasing him again. Quill wanted to scent him to hopefully keep bullies and some of his friends away, but then he figured that it would backfire and draw more attention to Scott. He wasn't stupid, he _knew_ he was a highly desired alpha and if an omega suddenly started to walk around school smelling like him, it would draw attention. Scott probably already had some trace of Quill's scent on him, so the alpha actually leans over to sniff and check.

There was no need for scenting. Scott clearly smelt like him and it was from sitting in such close proximity to him all the time along with sleeping with the Alpha's clothes and stuff he scented for him. The Omega's nest mostly consisted of Scott's things and Quill's, with one or two things from Meredith and Tim, so it shouldn't have come as a surprise. Quill just needed to be more aware of Scott for the next few days because there was going to be a rumor mill and he might be bombarded with questions and get stressed out.

"What are you doing?" Scott asks. No accusing tone, just curiosity.  
"I thought about scenting you," Quill admits. "But then I decided that wouldn't be a great idea in the long run...but it doesn't matter because you smell like me anyway."

Sweet mint fills the car and Quill sits up when he recognizes Scott's upset smell.

"I'm sorry--" Scott starts to mumble and Quill quickly shakes his head.  
" _No._ Don't be sorry. I was just worried about you. A lot of people here are dicks and I don't want them to hurt you or anything because of it." He says and instinctively rumbles to soothe the omega.

When the mint smell lowers to its normal levels, Quill relaxes.

"If anybody bothers you--"  
"Come find you." Scott finishes for him.  
"Yeah. I'm serious about that." Quill reaches back and grabs his backpack from the backseat. "Do you want me to go in first? It might help keep the attention away from you. At least for a little while."

Scott seems to mull it over and when he nods, Quill gets out of the car after handing Scott the keys to lock it behind him. He walks into the building and straight to his locker to get his books, and when he closes his locker, he finds one of his friends standing next to him and giving him a look.

"You smell like omega." He says and Quill raises an eyebrow.  
"So do you." He deflects easily.  
"I thought you weren't into that?"  
"I'm not. My mom took someone in recently and now he's staying with us." Quill explains and his friend fortunately accepts his answer. It's not like it was a lie anyway.  
"Well, I'll see you at lunch then." His friend says as he walks away.

To say Quill was worried about Scott all day would be an understatement. The omega had come to school with him _and_ smelled like him and he was a little worried that it would get him some unwanted attention. Some classmates and friends noticed Quill's worry and minor agitation but didn't comment, and some of it dissipated when lunch came around and he saw Scott. 

He was sitting at a table in the far corner of the cafeteria, but he was by himself. Well, a couple of other students were at the table, but they were at the opposite end and not paying the omega any mind. Scott looked content though. His lunch was spread out in front of him and he was currently peeling a tangerine with eyes full of...glee? That was definitely glee. Scott really loved anything orange. Quill thought about inviting him to sit with him and his friends, but he seemed happy where he was and the other students were leaving him alone.

Maybe they didn't care as much as Quill thought they would? He hoped that was the case.

"Hey Quill! What'd your mom pack?" One of his friends asks and he rolls his eyes as he joins them at the table.  
"Nothing for you."

His friend grumbles light-heartedly but they focus on their own lunches as they talk about the latest gossip. The latest was...pretty old news. Quill was thankful that Scott hadn't been part of the rumor mill but even he knew that wouldn't last forever. Someone was bound to notice Quill's scent on the omega. What his friends were talking about was the popular girl's most recent lay. Someone on the varsity basketball team or whatever. It wasn't anyone he was familiar with.

"Hi, Quill." A shiver runs up Quill's spine at the sickenly sweet voice behind him, and he stiffens when arms wrap around him.

_Speak of the devil._

The alpha pushes her arms away and she takes the spot next to him to smile at him and hug his arm, effectively pressing her breasts up against him. She was one of those omegas that everyone called a "knotwhore", and he was inclined to agree. He wouldn't be surprised if she had gotten pregnant once or twice.

"What do you want Rachel?"  
"What are you doing after school today?" She asks.  
"Not you." Quill grunts out and his friends snicker.  
Rachel pouts. "I thought we could go get some coffee."   
"No thanks. Go spread your legs for someone else. I'm not interested." Quill says flatly as he bites into his turkey sandwich.  
"Is it because you're too busy with that omega you came to school with?" She asks in an accusing tone.

Quill somehow managed to not react to Rachel's accusation and took another bite of his sandwich. He takes his time chewing and swallowing, ignoring her intense gaze as she waits for him to react or at least give her an answer. It went on long enough for Quill to finish his sandwich and his friends tried to awkwardly ignore the exchange. When he looked back at her, she was still looking at him expectantly.

"Can I help you?" He finally asks.  
"Who was that omega you came to school with?" She asks.  
"Just someone I gave a ride to." Quill answers.

Rachel looks at him like she was suspicious of his answer, but fortunately seemed to accept it, and thankfully the friend he spoke to earlier didn't say anything about an omega staying with him. It wasn't out of character for him to help someone so it would buy some time to keep Scott out of the rumor mill. The omega didn't want or need that kind of attention and Quill would try to keep him out of the limelight as long as possible. It was his duty as an Alpha, _Scott's_ Alpha, to keep him safe and happy. It was a weird thought. He was the alpha of the house but until now, his bonds were familial. He only had the small urge to protect his mother and grandfather since they could more or less provide for themselves.

Scott never had an alpha in his life before...and he was getting attached fast. Even Quill was starting to notice that Scott instinctively went to him for anything and everything that didn't deal with household chores. Stress? Scott would sub-consciously find Quill and find some way to sit close to him. If the alpha was doing homework at his desk, Scott would ask if he could join him, and then he'd go and get his homework from his own room as well as a chair and sit at Quill's desk with him.

He caught himself rumbling a few times whenever they hung out together like that. It happened whenever they watched TV too. If it was down in the living room, Scott would sit next to him on the couch. Up in Quill's room, the alpha would be laying on his back and watching a movie and Scott would come sit on the bed. Sometimes he watched the movie with him, or did homework at Quill's desk, or some tinkering with whatever his grandfather had no use or interest in.

Come to think of it, Scott was in his room a lot.

"Think about the coffee okay?" Rachel says sweetly before getting up and leaving much to Quill's relief.  
"Man, you have the right idea Quill." One of his friends says.  
"What idea?" He asks.  
"Avoiding her like the plague." His friend laughs.

The group laughs as they finish their lunch just before the bell rings, and Quill looks over at Scott as he throws his trash away. The omega was calmly getting up to do the same after what looked like putting away his books, and the alpha smiles as he leaves the cafeteria. The rest of that day went by a little calmer since Quill was a little less worried about Scott, the only negative point being the pop quiz in history. Fortunately he had reviewed the chapter recently and felt he did pretty good on the quiz.

He wasn't just brawn after all. He could apply himself to school, and he had A's and B's. He was uncomfortably close to a C in math though but he was managing with his grandfather's periodic help.

When school was finally out and he switched out the books he needed, Quill went out to his car to wait for Scott and frowned as he searched his pockets and his backpack for his keys. They were nowhere to be found and he couldn't for the life of him remember where he might have put them. Before he could panic though, he hears a tinkling beside him and finds Scott holding his keys out to him. Oh, right.

"I forgot I gave them to you." Quill chuckles as he takes them and unlocks the door. He and Scott throw their bags in the backseat and the alpha turns to look at the omega. "You mind if we go to the store on the way home?"  
Scott shakes his head. "Did your mom ask you to pick something up?"  
"Nah, I just want to pick up some snacks. We should probably get you some more juice too." He teases as they get into the car.

The drive was short since the store was only about five minutes away from the school and ten from the house. They went inside and straight to where the majority of the snacks were and Quill picked out some power bars and chips (and anything else that looked good) while Scott wandered off. He was just about to go looking for him when he smelt sharp mint nearby, and Quill followed the scent to the nearby candy aisle to find an alpha leering at Scott from the other end of the aisle. It was clear that the omega was aware of the strange Alpha's presence since his distressed mint was coming off of him in waves, but Quill quickly stepped up next to him to remedy it. Scott visibly relaxed while Quill glared at the alpha until he gave up and walked away, and orange soon filters through mint. 

"Thank you." Scott whispers.  
Quill rumbles gently to soothe the last of the Omega's frayed nerves. "Why didn't you come back to find me?"  
"I don't know. I was afraid." He admits quietly and the alpha nods.  
"Come look for me if that happens again. I'll scare them away." He grins and Scott smiles a little. "Did you find something you want?"  
Scott nods and holds up some gummy bears and sour straws. "I couldn't decide--hey!" He exclaims when Quill grabs both.  
"You can have both. Let's go find you some juice, buy this, and head home."  
"Can we get Capri Suns?" Scott asks as they walk to the aisle with the drinks, and Quill laughs at the hopeful look in his eyes.  
"Sure, but Mom might actually go through with limiting your juice intake."  
"She can _try_." Scott huffs and Quill cackles.

He was glad to see Scott getting comfortable with his family. When he first started living with them, he never would have said something like that. He was even starting to warm up to his grandfather since they both loved tinkering. It was cute listening to Scott nerd out over...whatever it was they happened to be working on. Quill thinks it's a homemade universal remote this time.

Maybe.


	4. Chapter 4

That weekend had a chill blow in with the wind so Scott was around Quill more often. At the moment, the omega was snuggled under a blanket on the couch next to Quill, and his feet were tucked under Quill's thigh as they watched TV. He didn't need the blanket, but he shared it with Scott if only to keep the omega warm. Scott had come down from his room with a small complaint that he had been cold and immediately sat on the couch and curled close to Quill, and the alpha grabbed a blanket to wrap around them.

He could tell Scott was warmer now since he was purring against Quill's shoulder. He had also noticed that Scott had been more...cuddly...but Quill shrugged it off thinking the omega was simply getting more comfortable around them. Or was enjoying having an alpha in his life. Quill didn't know but Scott was content so he wasn't going to question it.

"Want some popcorn?" Quill asks and Scott nods. "Well you're going to have to lose your personal heater for a couple minutes." He laughs.

Scott grunts but scoots away so the alpha can get up, and he walks into the kitchen to search the cupboards for the popcorn. When he finds the box, he pulls out the last package, tears off the plastic, and throws it in the microwave. After turning it on, he turns to the grocery list on the refrigerator and writes 'popcorn' on it, and throws away the empty box. He noticed with some amusement that juice was on the list as well and it was in Scott's handwriting. 

"I thought we just bought you juice!" He calls to the omega.  
"Drank it all." Was the response and Quill snorts.  
"Juice fiend. Ma's gonna hide it." He says as he grabs a couple of apples out of the fruit bowl on the counter and the peanut butter out of the cupboard.

While listening carefully to the popcorn, he cuts the apples into slices and puts them on a plate. He didn't bother spooning the peanut butter into a bowl since he figured they could scoop it straight out of the container as long as they didn't double dip. The popcorn he did pour into a large bowl once it was done and after throwing away the bag, he carried the snacks into the living room and sat back down on the couch. On the tv was a menu of a movie Scott must have put in, and Quill scoops an apple slice into the peanut butter and holds it up for Scott as he presses play. 

Neither of them thought anything of Quill's action and he did it periodically as they snacked and watched their movie...but Meredith gave them a strange look when she walked by. Quill asked her if anything was wrong but she just shook her head and walked away with the laundry basket.

"You know...before you started living with us, I wouldn't have pegged you for a romance nut." Quill says halfway through the movie and Scott pouts.  
"There's nothing wrong with it."  
"I didn't say there was." Quill laughs. "Want another apple?"  
Scott swallows the popcorn he had thrown into his mouth. "Mmm...yeah. Please."

Quill leans forward to grab another apple slice and scoops up some peanut butter with it before holding it out for Scott to take. The omega turns and takes it into his mouth and Quill holds his breath when honey eyes tinted with omega gold look up at him. Scott purrs out a thank you and licks his lips free of juice from the apple as the alpha quickly excuses himself saying something along the lines of needing to go to the bathroom. Scott pauses the movie as Quill goes up to his bathroom and when he looks in the mirror after closing the door, his heart pounds when he finds red taking over green. 

His alpha was responding.

Fuck. Now he knew why his mother had given them an odd look. He was unconsciously treating Scott like a mate. He was providing, taking care of Scott… _protecting_...and to his surprise, he didn't care. Scott was nice to look at, his scent was amazing, and they had a lot in common. Well...they both liked music and trolling each other. Had Quill been doing it this entire time? Looking back, the answer was obviously yes. He brought him home so he could have a safe place to stay instead of the park, he unintentionally got Scott smelling like him and even Quill wasn't sure if that was to keep him safe or to keep other alphas away...and now he was hand feeding him.

Scott was either oblivious since he never had an alpha care for him, or the gestures were small enough that he didn't mind them. If Quill did anything more, he was afraid Scott would catch on and shy away and he didn't want that. He liked hanging out with Scott. 

Quill sighs and splashes his face with cold water and waits until the red in his eyes goes away before going back downstairs to join Scott again. When he sits back down, the omega tucks his feet under Quill's leg to keep them warm and the alpha helps resituate the blanket around them before Scott plays the movie again. The apples and popcorn were consumed like they were previously and Scott is the next to break the silence when the couple on screen start kissing in the rain.

"Do you think that's as appealing as it looks?" He asks and Quill smirks.  
"Are you a closet romantic too?"  
Scott shrugs. "I dunno. I've always wondered though. Have you ever kissed anyone in the rain?"  
"Nope. Just in the boring sunshine."  
Scott snorts. "Did you have sex in the boring sunshine too?"  
"Actually, I haven't had sex period." When Scott looks at him in disbelief he rolls his eyes. "I'm not lying."  
"Aww. He's waiting until he's mated." Scott teases as he pokes the Alpha's cheek.  
"So what if I am?!" Quill bats his hand away and Scott smiles.  
"If you've resisted other omegas for this long then I'm impressed. Haven't you come across some in heat?"  
"Yeah, but I just get them somewhere safe or I walk away if they already are."

Scott nods and turns his attention back to the tv and they watch the rest of the movie without anymore interruptions. When it's over Scott reluctantly pries himself away from Quill's warmth to put the movie away and Quill takes the dishes to the sink to rinse them off and put them in the dishwasher. Scott slips past him and walks over to the fridge to take out the jug of apple juice and Quill snorts when he drinks straight from the container.

"Scott!" Meredith says loudly when she walks past and sees him. The younger omega chokes on some of the juice in surprise and coughs before looking at her meekly. "Don't you give me those puppy eyes. How many times do I have to tell you to use a cup?!"

Quill cackles when Scott's shoulders slump in dejection and he grabs a cup from the cupboard after mumbling and apology. There was no indication of mint which was a good sign that Scott didn't take Meredith's words as ones of anger. It took time, but Scott eventually realized that she was just being firm (and sometimes teasing), and indications of his upset slowly went away. The first time Meredith had been exasperated with him, the room filled with strong mint so quickly that both she and Quill had to soothe him and explain that she wasn't actually mad at him.

Meredith then looks at Quill. "You're no better for standing there and watching him do it!"  
"Like he'll listen to me." Quill laughs as Scott puts away the juice carton after pouring himself a glass. "Besides, who am I to take away something that makes him happy?"  
Meredith rolls her eyes. "Pushover." She mumbles as she walks into the laundry room.  
"Hey! I _resent_ that!" Quill calls after her.

The alpha looks back at the dishes and rinses them as Scott sits at the counter across from the sink and drinks his juice. It doesn't take him long and he leans over to put his glass in the sink as Quill puts the dishes in the dishwasher, and when the alpha turns back, his face gets water sprayed all over it. He gasps in surprise and wipes his face when the onslaught stops and he narrows his eyes at Scott as water drips over his eyes. The omega was smiling at him impishly with the sprayer in his hand and Quill lunged forward to wrestle it from him. Scott squeaks in surprise and water goes everywhere as they try to get full control of the sprayer, and Meredith walks by with a basket of clean laundry, sighing heavily when she finds what the two boys have gotten themselves into this time.

"You better clean that up!" She says before going upstairs.

By the time Quill managed to wrestle the nozzle away from Scott, they were both soaked and water was _everywhere_. The counters, the floor, the kitchen table...their hopes and dreams. He sprayed Scott from head to chest before returning the nozzle back where it belonged and threw a dish towel at the omega.

"Brat." He crouches down to clean up the floor and Scott works in drying the counters and the table.  
"It was just sitting there. I had to take the opportunity." Scott laughs as Tim walks in from the garage and looks around.  
"What happened in here?" He asks.  
"Ask Scotty."  
"I sprayed him with the nozzle." Scott grins and says rather proudly. The little shit.  
"Good for you." Tim chuckles.  
Quill gawks and looks up at his grandfather. "Are you serious?!"

Tim only laughs as he grabs a water bottle from the fridge and then looks at a partially soaked paper menu on the refrigerator door.

"How does pizza sound for dinner? It will be one less thing your mother needs to do." He asks.  
"Sounds good to me." Quill says as he gets up after mopping up the last of the water.  
"What kind?" Tim asks as he picks up the phone and dials.  
"Sausage, olive, and pepperoni." Scott says.  
"What he said." Quill agrees and pushes the omega toward the stairs. "Thanks Gramps! We're gonna go change."

The two boys go up to their respective rooms to get changed and Quill throws on his pajamas before leaving his room and walking down the hall to Scott's. He knocks on the door and then opens it when the omega calls for him to come in, and finds that Scott had the same idea as him and had his pajamas on too. Quill could feel himself relaxing as Scott's soothing scent surrounded him and with the Omega's permission, he flopped onto his nest and rumbled contently. He always liked going in Scott's room. Since the room was filled with his scent, it was always one of the first places he went to relax or calm down.

Sometimes if Scott was sitting on the bed too, like now, the omega would purr to further soothe him. Quill wasn't sure if Scott was aware he was doing it but it just added to the zen he felt.

"Are you mad?"  
Quill huffs. "No. Of course not. Wrestling a spray nozzle away from you is surprisingly tiring though." He jokes.  
"Guess I'm stronger than I look."  
Quill laughs. "Maybe you'll give me a run for my money."  
Scott tilts his head when he looks at him. "Your eyes are red again."  
"You and your room are soothing." Quill answers honestly.  
"Is that why you nearly barged in the other day?" Scott asks.

Quill nods. A few days ago, something happened while he was out running errands for his mother, and he had been so angry that he went straight to Scott's room when he got home. He tried not to pound on the door, but it happened anyway and Scott opened the door looking upset and already smelling like mint.

_"I need to...there was...can I just come in?" Quill asks and Scott nods before moving aside to let him by._

_The alpha immediately laid on the floor and let the smell of omega calm his raging nerves, and he slowly relaxed little by little until he was a metaphorical puddle on Scott's floor. The smell of mint eventually faded to its normal levels when Scott realized the alpha wasn't angry with him, and he let Quill chill while he went back to his homework._

Scott hadn't asked what happened and Quill appreciated that he let the alpha be until he was ready to leave again.

"Yeah. There was some entitled lady at the store that day. Her stupidity made me so mad, I had to get what Mom asked me to and leave before I did something I would have regretted." Quill finally explains and Scott nods.  
"I'm...glad me and my room help." He says softly.  
"You have no idea." Quill groans and sits up. "Wanna play Mario Party until pizza gets here?"  
"If you're prepared to cry." Scott says dryly and Quill howls with laughter.  
"Bring it on Scotty."


	5. Chapter 5

Something about Scott was bugging Quill when they went back to school after the weekend. But he didn't know what. He smelt fine and said he was feeling okay, but the alpha wasn't convinced. They went their separate ways once they got inside and Quill was able to calm down for the most part. He met up with some friends at his locker, grabbed the books he would need, and went to his first class. 

He mulled over what he and Scott had done over the weekend but nothing stuck out as out of the ordinary so Quill gave up and figured it was all in his head. His classes went by as usual and he had paid extra attention in his math class so that maybe he would understand what was going on but by the time the class was over, he was only more confused. Fortunately, lunch was right after and his mother had packed his favorite kind of sandwich. Roast beef. He goes to his locker to get his lunch and is immediately approached by his friend.

"Bagged lunch?" Eric asks. "Leftovers?"  
"Sandwich." Quill corrects. "Roast beef with all the fixings…" he digs through the paper sack and grins when he pulls out a bag of cookies. "I thought I smelt Mom's cookies!"  
"Now those--" Eric starts and reaches for the bag only for Quill to hold them out of reach.  
"Hell no! These are mine!" 

The alpha puts them back in the paper bag and pulls his phone out of his pocket when he feels it vibrate. The screens showed a text from Scott and when he unlocked his phone to check it, the message had his heart pounding with worry.

_Help me. Bathroom near locker._

Quill never moved so fast. He didn't even process that he had moved. He was just suddenly rushing through the hall toward the bathroom closest to Scott's locker while shoving his lunch into his backpack. When he rounded the corner, he saw a small group of Alphas, maybe four or five, loitering near the bathroom and before he could wonder why...he ran right into the reason. The area was potent with the smell of an omega in heat and Quill growled dangerously when he immediately recognized Scott's smell of oranges and mint.

He storms over to the small group and rumbles at them dangerously to scare them away, and they immediately scamper off with their metaphorical tails between their legs. This wasn't the first time Quill had to scare away some Alphas sniffing around when an omega was in heat, and they knew he wasn't to be trifled with. He had to actually put one or two Alphas in their place before getting the Omega to safety...but this was a different circumstance.

They were hovering around _his_ omega.

When Quill walked into the bathroom to look for Scott, the scene he walked in on caused him to rumble loudly and dangerously. He didn't have to look in a mirror to know that his Alpha was taking over and red replaced green. Scott was backed into a corner next to the furthest sink and was trapped by two other Alphas who looked over at Quill with red in their eyes as well. Scott looked terrified and that was what made Quill drop his backpack and act.

He grabs the two other boys and yanks them away from Scott before quickly planting himself in front of the Omega and posturing himself aggressively. The other two Alphas didn't back down as easily as the small group though. In fact, they both charged Quill and threw a few punches that he couldn't completely block and every punch they landed pissed him off more and more. The second there was an opening, Quill took it and punched one of them into a stall and the other out of the bathroom where he fell back into another small group of curious Alphas.

" **Mine!** " Quill used his Voice in an attempt to warn off others and the next thing he hears calms him considerably.  
" _Alpha…_ " Scott whimpers, shaking from his spot in the corner.  
Quill turns to him and slowly reaches out. "I'm taking you home." He says softly. No Voice. Just a normal statement.

Scott nods and doesn't fight Quill when he moves closer to scoop him up into his arms after picking up both of their backpacks. He rumbles gently to soothe the omega, and as he walks out, he growls threateningly at the other students who were smart enough to move aside and let him through. Everything after that took an enormous amount of willpower on Quill's part because Scott was scenting him for comfort and the Omega's scent was beginning to cloud his mind. When he got Scott to the car and buckled in, he threw the bags in the backseat and then closed the doors and stood outside for a few minutes to clear his head before he drove Scott home.

Quill had helped two or three Omegas get somewhere safe when they were in heat, but Scott drove him crazy. He thought that maybe being around him all the time would make him more resistant, but Quill had never wanted an omega so much. He wanted to get in the car and run his nose along Scott's neck to inhale his scent, he wanted to leave his mark, he wanted to--

 _No. Fuck. Stop that._ Quill shakes his head. He wasn't a knothead. He promised Scott that he was safe with him and he was going to make sure that remained true. The fact that Scott texted him for help was proof that he believed him and Quill wasn't about to do something stupid like give in to his Alpha and lose his trust.

He takes a couple more deep breaths before finally walking around to the driver's side and getting in the car. In the short time he had stood outside the car after getting Scott into it, the Omega's scent filled the car and he had to roll down the windows unless he wanted to lose himself to instinct. The cool winter air helped Scott, but he eventually stripped off his sweater in an attempt to cool down and Quill gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles were white. Just ten more minutes.

"Alpha~" Scott purrs and reaches out with golden eyes to grip Quill's sweater.  
"What?" He grunts out while ignoring questing hands and keeping his eyes on the road.

Scott continues to tug on the Alpha's sweater and when they come to a red light, Quill yanks it off and shoves it into Scott's arms. To his relief, the Omega was content with the offering and curled up in his seat to happily scent the sweater and purr. The smell of slick reaches Quill's nose and he groans quietly as his pants grow tighter. This was the longest fifteen minutes of his life. When the light turned green, he nearly slammed on the gas pedal and drove home as quickly as he possibly could without breaking too many laws. 

The moment his house came into view, Quill almost cried with relief as he pulled up into the driveway, parked, and turned off the car. He releases his seatbelt and scrambles out of the car to get around to Scott's side but not before taking a few gulps of Omega free air to clear his head again. Only then did he open the passenger side door and scoop up Scott after unbuckling him and carrying him inside and straight up to his room.

The second Quill deposited Scott into his nest, the Omega whined and grabbed his arm. " _Alpha…stay_."  
"No." Quill says firmly and pulls his arm out of Scott's grip. "I'll go find Mom or Gramps."

He hightailed it out of the room and shut the door not so gently behind him and he willed his pounding heart to slow down. That had been one of the hardest things he ever had to do. Resisting mating instincts was hard, especially when the desired mate had literally been in his arms.

"Peter?" Red eyes snap up to look at Meredith when she climbs the stairs. "Baby, what are you doing home?"  
Quill pries his hand off the handle to Scott's door and he moves away from it. "Scott...he…" the Alpha takes a breath. "His heat started at school."   
"Did anyone touch him?!" She asks as she quickly walks over to the door.  
"No. I don't think so. I had to fight off a couple of students…" Quill gulps, still able to smell Scott a little bit from where he was standing.

Fuck, he wanted to go back in so badly but his mother seemed to sense his inner turmoil and she placed her hand on his chest and gently pushed him back.

"Go outside and calm down." She says gently. "I'll make sure he gets what he needs."  
"I...yeah...thanks Mom." Quill mumbles and quickly descends the stairs and out the back door before he could change his mind.

He sat out there for a good twenty minutes so he could calm down and completely clear his head, and then checked his reflection in the sliding glass door. His eyes were back to their normal green color so he deemed himself calm enough to enter the house again and thankfully he couldn't smell Omega heat when he did. He went out front to grab their backpacks from the car and put Scott's on the table when he went back inside. He sits down at the table and pulls out his bag of lunch and just as he starts biting into his sandwich, his grandfather comes in from the garage.

"Pete? Is today a minimum day?" Tim asks.  
Quill swallows and shakes his head. "Scott went into heat so I had to bring him home. Mom's upstairs with him right now." He hisses when Tim steps closer and lifts his chin, touching a forming bruise along his jaw. "Ow!"  
"Did you get into a fight?"   
"I had to. They cornered Scott." The alpha moves his head away so he can take another bite of his sandwich and chew gingerly.

Now that his grandfather had made him aware of the bruise he was sporting, he was suddenly aware of every ache and pain on his face and upper body. Adrenaline and Alpha instincts kept him unaware of his injuries until he got Scott home safely and now he could feel _everything_. He also remembered everything that happened and he stopped chewing when he remembered what he had said in the bathroom.

_Mine._

He had actually publicly claimed Scott verbally and since no one knew (except Eric) that the Omega was living with him, people would think he was claiming him as a potential mate. Scott was his friend. Pack. It was his responsibility to protect him.

Right?

Quill didn't even believe himself when he thought about it. Did he protect Scott because he was pack or because he was a potential mate? He honestly wasn't sure. How would he know? Maybe that was how it started out when he first got the text, but as soon as he found Scott cornered and cowering in a corner…

"Peter?" 

Quill snaps out of his thoughts and looks up from the sandwich he had been staring at for the past few minutes to look at his mother. He didn't even notice when she came down.

"How's Scott?" He asks.  
"He's asleep. I gave him something from your laundry. Are you staying home for the rest of the day?" Meredith asks softly as she inspects the large bruise on his jaw.  
"Yeah. I'm tired from fighting and…" _resisting_ , Quill thinks. "Yeah." He repeats.  
"Alright. I'll call the school."  
"Should I go pick up anything for Scott?" Tim asks.  
"Gatorade." Meredith answers as she walks over to the refrigerator and pulls an ice pack out of the freezer.  
"Alright. I'll be back." 

Tim grabs Quill's keys after the Alpha digs them out of his pocket, and the teen winces when his mother presses the ice pack to his jaw. As his grandfather leaves, he puts down his sandwich in favor of holding the pack to his face and watches Meredith grab the phone and dial the school's number.

"Thanks Ma." Quill mumbles.  
Meredith smiles and leans over to kiss his temple and push his hair back. "I'm proud of you baby. I know that wasn't easy."

 _You have no idea,_ Quill thinks to himself.


	6. Chapter 6

Scott's heat lasted for a little less than a week and fortunately it was easy to stay away as long as Quill kept his distance from the Omega's room. Now that his heat was over, they were back to sitting on the couch with Scott's feet under one of the Alpha's thighs and he was scrutinizing Quill's jaw. The bruise had disappeared the day after he got it and all of his aches and pains had gone away as well.

"I could have sworn you had a bruise…" Scott mumbles as he pokes at the Alpha's jaw.  
"I did. It was gone the next morning." Quill explains and bats Scott's hand away with a laugh.  
"The next morning? That's not possible."  
Meredith walks in with some snacks for them. "He's always been like that. He really does walk injuries off." She says with a flippant wave before going back into the kitchen.

She was baking more cookies while they watched TV and it was starting to smell more and more like Christmas. The holiday was kind of celebrated the entire month of December because they loved Christmas, and the month had just started. Part of the snacks his mother had brought for them were Christmas themed sugar cookies, and Scott already woofed two down and was working on his third. Quill asked him the day before what Scott remembered when he went into heat, and to his relief, the Omega didn't remember much. He barely remembered seeing the bruise because he had been in a haze when he saw it.

Scott had no memory of Quill's claim on him and he wondered how long he could keep that under wraps. He tried to do some damage control at school when he went back the next day, but who knew if it helped. He told everyone it was just instinct and it did seem to help so he'd have to wait and see. There wasn't much else he could do about it. When Quill protected Scott though, and the omega had gotten through his heat, he was even closer to the Alpha and was purring more than usual.

Maybe Scott was happy that he really _could_ trust Quill. Right now, he was pretty sure the Omega was just happy with his cookie. He couldn't say.

"You're gonna get fat if you keep eating those like-- _ow!_ " Quill rubs his shoulder when Scott punches it. "Hey, give me one."   
"Ugh. They're right in front of you." Scott leans back over to grab the plate and takes one cookie and hands it to Quill before turning away with the entire plate. "There. You have your cookie."  
Quill grins and sticks it in his mouth before reaching around to get another and Scott holds it out of reach. "Gimme anofer!" He demands around the cookie in his mouth.  
"Eat that one first you pig!" Scott yelps when the Alpha grabs him and holds him against his chest and reaches for the plate that Scott is still desperately trying to keep out of reach. "Barbarian!"

Quill grabs the plate with a victorious cackle and grabs another cookie before putting the plate back on the coffee table. He breaks the cookie in his mouth in half, chews, and then swallows.

"Didn't I sneeze the other day and you called me a barbarian?" Quill asks before taking another bite of his cookie.  
"Well I'm pretty sure you shook the house!"  
"You two…" Meredith walks up behind the couch and whaps them both upside the head. "Eat your cookies and be nice."  
"He is being nice." Quill smirks. "This is Scotty nice."

Scott rolls his eyes and throws a couch pillow at the Alpha's face.

"Don't talk with your mouth full." Scott grumbles.  
"Do you like seafood?" Quill asks and Scott looks at him in horror.  
"No! Don't you dare!" He yells and picks the pillow back up to cover Quill's face with.  
Meredith sighs fondly. "What are you two watching?"  
Quill shrugs. "Dunno. We're just waiting for A Christmas Story to come on. It's up next."  
"Maybe then you'll both quiet down. You're acting like pups."  
"But I am your pup." The Alpha pouts and she rolls her eyes and pats his head as she walks back toward the kitchen.  
"You both are. What do you want to drink?"  
"Hot chocolate!"  
"No! Cider!" Scott says and then tries to scramble away when Quill leans forward to scent him obnoxiously. "Stop! I already smell like you!"

Quill laughs as he flops onto Scott to continue scenting him and the younger eventually submits and grumbles. His obnoxious scenting was more of a game than territorial just because he liked to annoy Scott, and he was pretty sure the Omega liked it anyway. He always protested loudly when Quill started up with it but in the end, he was always purring and smelling of oranges and sunshine. Recently before Scott's heat, they had actually fallen asleep on the couch after Quill's ridiculous scenting. He had glomped onto Scott much like now, and they had both gotten so comfortable and content that they had fallen asleep.

Meredith took a picture once she made sure Quill wasn't smothering Scott (the couch was _not_ big enough for two people to sleep on), and she told them it was the cutest thing she had ever seen. Scott was basically buried under the Alpha but he was purring with his nose against the Alpha's scent gland and Quill was rumbling loudly. She made copies for the boys to keep and framed a third that was sitting on the fireplace mantle.

It only took thirty seconds for Scott's protesting to stop and for quiet purrs to reach Quill's ears and he grinned as he sat up a bit. "For all that yowling, you seem to like it well enough."  
Scott blushes and tosses the second pillow at Quill's face. "Shut up."

Quill laughs and sits back to let him up as he puts the pillows back in their proper places and Scott grabs a handful of grapes off the plate of fruit. Of course Meredith wouldn't just let them snack on cookies, with the exception of Christmas Eve and Day. She let Quill and Tim eat whatever they wanted as long as they ate the meals she prepared on those specific days. Christmas Eve she made dinner, and Christmas Day she made breakfast _and_ dinner. Cookies, candy, chocolate, and whatever else fit the holiday was snacked on in between meals and Quill was kind of excited to see Scott enjoy himself.

He couldn't believe it had already been almost four months since he found Scott at the park, and he was glad he did. The omega was already his best friend and Scott was happy with them. He adapted and got comfortable to the point that he even _playfully_ swatted Meredith away if her overprotective Omega came out. Like the time he wasn't paying attention to where he was walking and ran smack into a door frame. It stunned him for a few moments but he was already recovering by the time Meredith had gotten to him. Quill was too busy laughing. He was surprised the Alpha in him didn't come out when he thought about it later, but at the time he was too busy cackling and getting the stink eye from Scott.

A pop distracts Quill from his thoughts and before he can question what the noise was, a grape smacks his cheek and he watches it drop to the floor before looking at Scott in bewilderment. "Did...did you just spit a grape at me?"

The little shit feigned ignorance and furrowed his brows.

"No? That's a waste of food."

Quill looks at him skeptically but decides to let it slide and looks back at the tv to see if their movie was on yet. There was still another twenty minutes or so for the movie on right now--

**POP.**

The grape hit the side of his head that time and he snapped his neck to the side to look at Scott who was trying, and failing miserably, to look innocent. The omega quickly gave up and dissolved into laughter before squeaking and rolling off the couch when Quill lunged at him. He grabs Scott's ankle before he can get up and the Omega falls back down onto his stomach with a startled 'oof', and then starts squirming to get away. Throughout their round of horseplay, the end table was bumped a few times, making the heavy lamp sitting on it move closer and closer to the edge.

Quill happened to look up when it started to fall and on instinct his hand flew out and he managed to catch it just inches from Scott's face. They both freeze, and as they catch their breath, Scott looks at the lamp in Quill's hand with wide eyes and then up at the Alpha.

"This is why I tell you not to horse around." Meredith sighs as she walks in with their drinks.  
"He started it." Quill grumbles as he returns the lamp and they sit up and get back on the couch. "Spitting grapes at me."  
Meredith snorts. "Maybe I should be glad I didn't have any more pups if you two are anything to go by."

She hands a mug of hot chocolate to Quill and a mug of hot cider to Scott who beams happily. He immediately tips it back to start drinking it but just as quickly stops and sticks out his tongue when the hot cider scalds it.

"Next time I'll warn you _before_ I give it to you." Meredith laughs. "No more messing around. Watch your movie."  
"It's not even on yet." Quill grumbles and then carefully sips his hot chocolate. "Do we have whipped cream Ma?"  
"What? You haven't had enough sugar?"  
"It's not the same without it!" Quill exclaims.  
"Alright, alright. I'll look." Meredith throws her hands up in the air and disappears back into the kitchen as Scott tries his cider again.

Considering he was gulping it down, it either cooled down enough or he was torturing himself just to get his juice fix. The thought made him chuckle.

Scott puts his nearly empty mug down with a satisfied sigh and Quill reaches out and wipes away the bit of juice at the corner of his mouth with his thumb. It was purely instinctual and he didn't even realize he was rumbling as he did it. What he did notice were honey-gold eyes being slowly overtaken by omega gold and that Scott was leaning into his hand with a content purr. There was no urgent need to pull his hand away and Scott didn't jump away...they were at peace.

Was Scott's Omega recognizing him as a potential mate? If so, didn't that mean Scott saw him in that light as well? Of course it did. Scott and his Omega were one and the same just like he and his Alpha were. Their second gender was more instinct but it was still them. Just like no one person was the same, not all Alphas, Betas, or Omegas were either. Sometimes their counterparts recognized something before they did. Just like his Alpha saw Scott as a mate and Quill only realized it later.

The sound of the garage door opening breaks their trance and Quill drops his hand just before Meredith and Tim join them in the living room. His mother hands him the can of whipped cream and he thanks her before he pops the cap off and sprays a generous amount into his mug. He sprays some into Scott's mouth with a laugh when he looks over and finds him with his mouth open and looking at him expectantly (part of his brain fell somewhere in the gutter), and the Omega eats it happily.

"I heard you two are about to watch my favorite movie." Tim says as he sits in his recliner.  
"Yeah, don't spoil it. Scotty hasn't seen it yet." Quill warns his grandfather.  
Tim raises his eyebrow and looks at Scott. "Poor boy. You've been deprived."  
"He said the same thing," Scott rolls his eyes.  
"Well he's right. It's the best Christmas movie ever."  
Scott shrugs and then looks at the can of whipped cream Quill set on the coffee table. "You think that would be good with apple cider?"

Quill grabs the can and sprays some into what was left of Scott's mug of cider with a grin. 

"Only one way to find out!"  
"If this is gross I'm making _you_ drink it." Scott mumbles.


	7. Chapter 7

Just one more week before he and Scott got a break from school. That's what Quill kept telling himself whenever someone gave him the side eye. It didn't happen as often as it did when he first went back to school after the incident, but there were still a few students that were still suspicious. They were aware of Scott's and Quill's friendship, so now they knew of the Omega's existence and that he was _off limits_...unless they wanted to deal with Quill's wrath.

Rachel clearly didn't get the memo and was found harassing Scott in the cafeteria when Quill got there for lunch, and he actually _growled_. He growled before he even smelt Scott's sharp mint, and when he did smell it, his alpha came toward as he marched straight over to Rachel and towered over her. Her smug grin fell away the moment she sensed his anger but she tried putting a smile back on when she turned to look at him.

"Hi Quill." She says a little too sweetly. "I was just saying hi to Scott here."  
"Clearly that's not all you said." He growls dangerously and inwardly preens when a twitch signals her resistance to submit to him.

There was only one way she wanted to submit to him but he wasn't going to give her the satisfaction. While it was true that Alphas were more of an issue, there were Omegas like her that proved that both sides could be terrible people because of their second sex. Quill made sure he wasn't one of them. He took care of omegas. He didn't take advantage of them or make them forcibly submit to him unless it was for their own safety. Right now, he was trying to keep from using his Voice on Rachel. He was pissed but he still had morals he tried to keep to.

He just felt extra agitated today.

And Rachel seemed keen on touching him today. "I was just getting to know him."  
"Leave him alone." Quill grunts out and pushes her hands away.

When she doesn't immediately leave, the Alpha growls at her in warning and the girl finally retreats as he sits down next to Scott. Any other day, he would always leave Scott to himself since he seemed content to be alone, but today he wanted to snap at anyone who got close. Alphas, Omegas, and even Betas. Why was he so agitated?

"...ill...Quill… _Alpha_!" Scott whines and Quill snaps his head to the side to look at him.  
"What's wrong?" He asks immediately and watches curiously as Scott gathers his things.  
"Come with me." He says softly and tugs on the senior's sweater. "Please?"

Well, Quill couldn't say no to that. He got back up and followed Scott out of the cafeteria and into the empty hallway. He looks at the Omega in confusion when he leads him to his locker and Scott looks at him expectantly.

"What?"  
"Get your books and go home." Scott says and Quill rumbles in warning. "Quill...I think you're about to start your rut." He explains.  
The Alpha blinks. "My…? Shit…" he rubs the back of his neck before opening his locker. "What about you?"  
"I can walk."  
"No. I'll ask Ma or Gramps to come pick you up." Quill says firmly.  
"Okay...just go home." Scott says gently.

Quill grumbles in response as he grabs the books he'll need and shoves them into his backpack. It annoyed him more than usual to leave Scott behind, but while a big part of that was because of his oncoming rut, he also hadn't left the omega alone like this...ever. At least not in public. He had stayed with Scott since the moment he took him home from the park and a part of him felt like it was his obligation as an alpha to keep him safe. To stay by his side. Not just an obligation though...it was a want. A _need_.

Just like he needed to thoroughly scent the omega no matter how much he was protesting.

"H-hey! Stop! I already smell like you!" Scott squirms in Quill's grasp as he scents and eventually gives up. "Alright, alright! Would you quit it? Someone could see!"

Quill tried to stop, really. But Scott smelt amazing and he couldn't seem to get enough. 

"Smell good." He rumbles.  
"You'll survive." Scott smacks him away until the alpha finally releases him. "I'll get your homework for the week and anything they might have planned for you to do over break."  
"...are you sure you can't just come home with me?" Quill asks and then sighs when Scott levels him with an unamused look. "Okay, fine. I'm going."

Quill shoulders his backpack and leaves the building once Scott walks away and he goes over to his car. He gets in after throwing his bag in the back and drives home subconsciously. He was still aware and able to react if he needed to but his rut started to give him some brain fog. By the time he made it home and went inside, he went straight up to his room and flopped onto his bed.

This rut was different from his usual ones. Normally he would close his door after warning his mother and grandfather about the situation and...take care of himself...but he didn't have that kind of urge. In all honesty, he felt even more agitated since leaving school. Was it because he left Scott behind? Or was it simply biology taking over? He supposed he wouldn't know until the omega got home.

"Peter?" Meredith carefully cracks his bedroom door open after knocking. "Baby, are you sick?"  
"No, Ma. Just my rut I think." Quill grunts. "Could you pick up Scotty after school?"  
Meredith nods. "Me or your grandfather. Do you need anything?"  
"Just gonna lay here." The alpha sighs.  
"Alright." 

His mother shuts the door behind her as she leaves and Quill buries his face into his pillow. He had no idea how long he laid there like that, but before he knew it, his door was being opened again and the smell of oranges and sweet mint filtered through the haze of his mind. Quill sighs with relief and inhales the scent of omega as Scott steps into his room cautiously, and he rumbles softly. Scott must have just come in to put any homework he was assigned on his desk, but Quill had other plans. Or rather, his alpha did. He reached out and grabbed the omega, pulling him onto his bed, and scents him with another happy rumble when Scott squeaks in surprise.

"Quill! Let go! I shouldn't even be in here right now while you're-"  
"Just want you close." Quill mumbles into Scott's neck. "Your scent is enough."

And it was. He didn't have the usual urge to knot something...he just wanted to cuddle with Scott. The omega's scent was enough to calm his alpha and Quill even felt better now that Scott was safe at home and _in reach_. He let himself turn into a relaxed puddle that only Scott seemed capable of doing to him, and rumbled when the omega relaxed on the bed next to him. Quill curled around the omega before throwing the blankets over them and relished in the purrs he got in response.

Of course his mother came to check on them when Scott didn't come back out. "Peter, you need to let Scott go. He shouldn't be in here." She says.

Quill growls at the minor threat to have his omega taken from the room and Meredith sighs heavily.

"Alright, fine. But this door stays open. Scott, you leave if he tries to do anything else. Understand?"  
"I will." Scott replies and huffs when the alpha holds him tighter.

Meredith nods and exits the room, keeping Quill's bedroom door wide open, and the alpha tucks his nose against Scott's neck. He enjoyed the calm that came over him while they laid there and the omega watched a movie on his tv to keep himself entertained. Unfortunately, about two movies later, Scott started to squirm in Quill's grip, making the alpha growl quietly.

"I have to do my homework." Scott complains.  
"Do it here." Quill grumbles.  
"All my stuff is in my room. I'll do it quickly and come right back. Promise." The omega tries to negotiate.  
"Do it here." The alpha repeats.  
Scott sighs heavily and manages to slip away. "Just wait."

Quill grumbles as Scott leaves the room to possibly go do his homework, but before he can get up to follow him, the omega comes back with his backpack and his books. While Scott didn't get back on the bed and sat at his desk instead, he was still close enough to keep the alpha happy. Quill dozed off as he listened to the scritching of Scott's pen as he worked and rumbled happily as the Omega's scent filtered through the air. When the scritching and page turning finally stopped, Quill cracked his eyes open, only to find that Scott was missing from his room.

"Scott?" He mumbles and lifts his head to look around.

As if on cue, Scott walks back in through the open doorway munching on a Christmas cookie and he holds out a plate for Quill. He must have slept through dinner.

"You must have been tired." He says as Quill sits up and takes the plate of what looked to be chicken parmesan.  
"Thanks. How long have you been gone?"  
"Dunno. Maybe an hour. I finished my homework and went down for dinner." Scott sits on the bed and bites into his cookie again. "Just came to give you dinner before I go to my room for the night."

Quill pauses his fork halfway to his mouth and growls at the insinuation and the omega sighs. 

"Stop that. You'll be fine." He finishes his cookie and gets back up. "Goodnight Quill."

He felt the start of becoming a human thundercloud when the omega left his room, but didn't argue. They weren't bonded or mated. Scott didn't have any obligation to completely help him through his strange rut, and even if they were...he still didn't. Quill could get through the night.

Theoretically.

He tossed and turned halfway through the night, but he couldn't calm down enough to go to sleep. He needed the reassurance of Scott's presence. His scent. Quill needed to _hold him_. So before he could talk himself out of staying in bed, he gets up and pulls his door open and shuffles down the hallway to Scott's room. He made sure to leave the door open per his mother's request, and walked over to Scott's bed to collapse onto it. The omega startles out of sleep as Quill gets comfortable next to him and huffs as he curls against the alpha when he settles.

"Will you sleep now?"  
"Hmm." Quill rumbles contently and noses Scott's scent gland.

He slept easily until morning when Scott had to get up for school. Quill made sure to overscent him again despite his protests, and when the omega left for the day...the alpha prowled. He really did hate it when Scott wasn't nearby. The idea of him being in public without him made him irritable, especially since this was the first time Scott had been out without him. Meredith and Tim tried to distract him but he wasn't having it. He prowled until Scott got home, pulled him to the couch or up to his room to glomp until Scott went to bed, and went to the Omega's bedroom in the middle of the night when he couldn't sleep.

This repeated until Quill's rut was finally over and he sighed when he didn't have an overwhelming urge to scent and protect. By then, winter break had started and Quill and Scott were sitting on the couch binge watching Christmas movies and stuffing themselves full of cookies. Scott was laying across the couch with his feet in Quill's lap and a blanket thrown over his legs and the Alpha's lap, and Scott purred as Quill rubbed his legs and feet. Tim had fallen asleep in his recliner in the middle of the last movie, and Meredith was reading by the fireplace after she had made hot drinks for everyone.

When the current movie was over and they were waiting for the next one to start, Meredith gets up from her chair and closes her book. "I better go start dinner before you two completely ruin your appetites."  
"Mom, you've been doing a lot. Why don't we just order out?" Quill says.   
"We can do that." She nods and walks over to the kitchen to grab some takeout menus. "What sounds good?"  
"Pizza or Chinese." Quill smiles when Scott nods in agreement.  
"Hmm...I'm not really in the mood for Chinese so we'll have pizza. There's a coupon here, I'll go call it in."

Meredith walks back into the kitchen to put the menus away and order the pizza, and Quill looks over at Scott when he sits up to grab his still warm cider. After the omega takes a drink, he pulls the mug away with a content sigh and Quill points to the corner of his mouth when he sees a few cookie crumbs.

"You got a little something there." He murmurs and shakes his head when Scott tries to wipe his mouth unsuccessfully. "No. It's--here."

He reaches out to wipe the corner of Scott's mouth free of cookie crumbs and his breath catches in his throat when the omega purrs. Quill noticed that Scott only ever acted like this with him and it almost made him feel...proud. Special. Scott trusted him.

"Quill?" Scott whispers and the alpha suddenly found himself inches from the younger.

Just a breath away from what his alpha was demanding he do for the longest time. Maybe he would blame it on the enticing smell of sunshine, oranges, and sweet mint. Maybe he would blame it on the holiday cheer that was definitely in their home with decorations everywhere they looked (even in the bedrooms and bathrooms). Or maybe he would just own up to it. 

Quill closed the distance to Scott's lips and kissed him. It was sweet, and chaste, and when he pulled away to look at the omega to figure out if he fucked everything up…

He found gold.


	8. Chapter 8

It lasted all of ten seconds before the gold faded away and Scott grabbed a Christmas cookie to shove in Quill's mouth just before Meredith walked back in. He looked down with a blush as she told them their pizza would arrive within the hour and it had the Alpha still wondering if he crossed a line. Or maybe Scott was just shy?

Or maybe he thought Meredith would nip it in the bud if she found out. Quill was admittedly a little worried about that too. Scott was his foster brother, but it wasn't exactly unheard of. The younger omega was his friend first. They weren't related by blood and Meredith hadn't _officially_ adopted Scott…

Maybe it was better if they kept any future displays of affection private. Quill hoped that the fact that Scott didn't flee immediately afterwards was a good sign. But it was possibly just him not trying to draw attention to himself. The thought made his skin itch. All he could think about through the next movie was how he _definitely_ crossed a line and the worry festered so much that Meredith eventually looked over at him with a frown.

"Peter? Are you okay?" She asks and he looks over at her and nods.  
"Yeah, yeah. Fine. Why do you ask?"  
"You smell more like a Christmas tree than the tree itself."

Even Tim was looking over at him in concern and Quill winced. He didn't realize his scent was so potent that it woke his grandfather from his nap. Scott...the alpha could smell him and didn't even bother looking over at him. The omega smelt like both mint and oranges and that usually meant he was conflicted and...that kind of made Quill feel worse. He never wanted Scott to feel that way, especially not because of him. He should have never given into temptation.

Would Scott want to leave?

Quill gets up from the couch and rubs his neck as he mutters about taking a nap before dinner arrives and he goes up to his room. He closes the door behind him and walks over to his bed where he flops onto it and stares up at the ceiling. His heart wrenched as his mind spiralled down further and further, and all he could think was, _I fucked up._ His stomach soured and he turned onto his side with his back to the door with the intent to just go to sleep for the night. The thought of food was suddenly very unappealing and he just hoped all those Christmas cookies he ate earlier wouldn't decide to make a second appearance.

He was so lost in his depressed state that he didn't hear his door open, and he just managed to smell the unmistakable scent of his mother before she sat down on his bed. Roses and vanilla. She was always calming to be around and her scent alone had helped him through many emotional times. This one...he wasn't sure what would happen.

"Are you going to come eat or are you too busy trying to outdo our Christmas tree?" She asks softly.  
"I'm not hungry." Quill mumbles.  
"Was it the Christmas cookies or did something happen while I was ordering pizza?" She asks and Quill looks over his shoulder at her.  
"What makes you think something happened?"  
Meredith scoffs. "Because you're up here and Scott is downstairs looking like he'd been kicked. You two have been inseparable since day one and I've considered finding a crowbar every once in a while." She raises an eyebrow at him. "So are you going to tell me what happened or keep playing stupid?"

It figured he wouldn't be able to hide anything from his mother. She was always far more perceptive than she let on but she never pushed him to talk about it unless she thought it was necessary.

"I fucked up." Quill mumbles.  
" _Peter._ " Meredith scolds and he mumbles an apology for the language. "What happened?"  
The alpha sits up and takes a deep breath. "I...I kissed Scott." He admits and then looks at his mother incredulously when she laughs a little.  
"Is that all? I swear the two of you…" She shakes her head as she gets up. "It's a wonder it hasn't happened sooner."

Quill was left to stare after her in shock as she left the room. Normally she would counsel him through whatever turmoil he was having, but she _left_. She didn't seem angry so he had no idea what was going through her head. 

At least until Scott came in the room a couple of minutes later with a couple plates of pizza. So that's what his mother was playing at. She was going to have them talk it out and he hated and loved her for it.

"Your mom asked me to bring you dinner." Scott says quietly. He still looked conflicted and unsure and Quill wanted to remedy that.  
So he throws his legs over the side of his bed and motions the omega over. "Come here," he says softly. Scott looks at him nervously and eventually does as the alpha asks, stopping just out of reach. "Put those on my desk."

The omega turns to put the plates on Quill's desk, and when he turns back, he avoids eye contact with the alpha and tightly grips the bottom of his shirt. Scott was exuding nervous energy along with his sharp mint and it bothered Quill. He was the reason for Scott's discomfort.

"Hey...I'm sorry if I crossed a line." He starts and Scott finally looks up at him with an unreadable expression. "I won't lie, I'm _really_ attracted to you but I shouldn't have kissed you without asking you."  
"You mean it?" Scott suddenly blurts out.  
Quill nods. "Yeah. I swear we can go back to how things were if that's what you want though."  
"I thought I upset you."  
"I was upset because I felt like I screwed up. I…" the alpha sighs and covers his face. "I don't want you to be uncomfortable."

Scott remains silent for a few moments but then Quill looks up at him when the omega gently grabs his wrists and pulls his hands away. His expression was still unreadable but his conflicted smell was gone. In fact, it was so neutral that he had no idea what was going through Scott's head either. What was it with Omegas and their sudden ability to control their smell?

"Would you do it again if I let you?" He asks quietly.  
Quill felt his body lighten instantly and his mouth went dry in anticipation. "In a heartbeat."   
Scott moves a little closer until he's standing between the Alpha's legs. "I never said I didn't like it."  
"You never said you did." The alpha quips back.  
"Idiot."

Scott was the one to initiate the kiss this time around and Quill couldn't help but rumble loudly. The want, the _need_ , to put his mark on Scott came back three fold but it was too soon. He could be happy with this for now. In fact, he was pretty sure if Scott asked him to jump out of the window, he would without question. He'd do anything for Scott and he knew this from the moment he found him at the park.

The kiss was over all too fast and Quill started to reach up to pull the omega back, but instead had a plate pushed into it. 

"Eat." Scott commands softly and grabs his own plate before sitting next to Quill. "To be honest, I was afraid of what your mom would say if she found out." He admits softly.  
Quill snorts. "She knows. I told her but she told me she was surprised it didn't happen sooner." He takes another bite of his pizza. "She says we're attached at the hip."  
"...what about Rachel?"  
That actually made Quill grunt in annoyance. "What about her? I want nothing to do with the school slut."

The omega mouths a silent "oh" and they go back to eating their dinner in comfortable silence. Now that Quill knew how Scott felt about what happened, his stomach was no longer sour and he ate voraciously. It earned him an unimpressed look from the younger teen, but Scott was used to his eating habits by now so it was quickly followed by a fond eye roll. When they were finished Quill takes both plates and puts them aside to take down later, but he was more focused on getting some more than platonic cuddling from Scott. He also didn't want to see Meredith give him her all-knowing, smug look either when he finally went down. He'd probably float down at this point. Even better?

Scott let himself be pulled against Quill without a fuss.

======  
"NO! You can't come in!"

Quill stares at Scott's locked door in bewilderment at the near screech and then turns around when he hears a chuckle. 

"He's wrapping presents." Tim explains and Quill snorts.  
"I was just going to ask if you wanted juice or whatever!" The alpha calls through the door.  
"Cider!"   
"Of course." Quill rolls his eyes and walks downstairs with his grandfather and into the kitchen. "How does Mom make it for him?"  
"I think you'd better ask her to do it." Tim says as he grabs a sugar cookie.  
"Why?" Quill looks through the cabinets to look for the mix. "I just hafta boil water right?"  
"Peter Jason Quill! Don't you touch that stove!" Meredith calls from the living room.

The alpha scowls at Tim when the elder starts laughing and puts the mix on the counter.

"I'm getting yelled at left and right here!"  
"Sometimes it's best to let the omegas handle some things." His grandfather says.  
"Was just trying to help…" Quill mumbles as Meredith finally joins them and starts to make Scott's cider.  
"I appreciate it baby, but I don't think I need to remind you about the last time you tried to boil water."  
Quill winces. "Point taken."

He sits at the breakfast counter and lays his head on his arms as he watches his mother make cider and hot chocolate for all of them. He had already wrapped all of the presents he got for them and even put them under the tree, but now he was at a loss. Normally he would be seeking Scott's company, but that was clearly a no go until Scott finished with at least _his_ gift(s). Quill had the suspicion that the younger omega was helping Meredith with some of the presents.

"Here," Meredith says after a few minutes, placing two mugs in front of him. "Maybe you'll be able to go up now."

Quill sits up and grabs the mugs, thanking his mother before getting up and taking them upstairs to Scott's door. His hands were both full so he couldn't knock, so he used his knee instead. Moments later, Scott cracked the door open and looked at Quill before looking past him, and then opens the door more to let the other teen in.

"I just finished yours so you can come in." Scott says.  
"Good. I was getting bored and I brought you cider as requested." Quill grins as he hands one of the mugs over. 

Scott takes it happily and promptly plops back down on the floor by his mess of wrapping paper and unwrapped gifts, and sips from his mug with a content purr. He eventually put it aside to continue wrapping presents and Quill honestly thought it was the most endearing thing he had ever seen. The omega would periodically stick his tongue out as he worked and sometimes a scowl would grace his features if the wrapping paper wasn't staying where it was supposed to.

"Did you used to wrap presents...before?" Quill asks.  
"Not this many." Scott says. "This isn't a whole lot anyway but I'm helping with some of your mom's and grandpa's gifts."

 _As I suspected,_ Quill thought as he sat next to Scott but made sure to stay out of the way.

"Umm…" Scott hesitates for a moment. "Where's your dad?"   
Quill simply shrugs. "Hell if I know. Never met him, but when I was a kid, Mom would tell me he was from the stars."  
"The stars?"  
"I guess. I didn't think much of it. I thought it was cool. But the older I got, the angrier I was at him. I stopped asking about him."  
Scott frowns. "I'm sorry for bringing it up."  
"Don't be," the alpha shakes his head. "I think we all expected the question eventually. You might have gotten the same answer but in different ways if that makes sense. Like, Gramps hates my dad for leaving my mom...I don't think he even knows I exist. Good riddance."  
"...you still have your mom and grandpa." Scott says quietly as he tapes up another gift.  
"Yeah, I know. Now I have you too." Quill adds and smiles when Scott blushes. "You're the only ones who matter."

The omega said nothing to that, but he knew Scott was happy because of the gentle orange smell he was giving off. A sign that the younger teen was pleased. Quill figured he would add to that and used his free hand to gently massage the back of Scott's neck and drank his hot chocolate with his other while he watched Scott work. Whatever tension that built in the Omega's shoulders over time from wrapping presents quickly melted away and Scott ended up purring toward the end of his task. 

"Want me to take some of these downstairs and put them under the tree?" Quill offers and Scott nods.  
"Can you take my mug too?"  
"Sure, I guess. Not sure how Mom will feel about me putting it under the tree though." He says as he gets up with the two empty mugs in one hand and all the presents he can carry with the other.  
"Alpha!" Scott huffs and Quill cackles as he leaves the room.


	9. Chapter 9

It was early morning on Christmas Eve when he was shaken awake. Without opening his eyes, Quill knew it was way too early for someone to wake him up, and so he merely grunted and turned onto his side. It drew an annoyed huff from whoever was disturbing him but he couldn't care at the moment. There clearly wasn't an emergency or someone would be yelling at him, but then he was shaken again.

"Fucking hell…" Quill grunts. "Too early."  
"Quill." Scott actually whines a little and kneels behind him on the bed to shake him more. "I need to go to the mall!"  
Quill finally opens his eyes to look over his shoulder at the omega. "It's Christmas Eve! Are you pulling me out of bed to go look at lights?"  
"I need to get one more present for your mom." Scott pouts. "Please?"  
"Alright, alright." The alpha sighs and sits up. "Give me-"

Quill couldn't even finish his sentence. Scott had practically hopped off the bed and grabbed his clothes and threw them at him, and the alpha half expected the younger to help him dress. He wouldn't have complained if that were the case but it didn't happen, much to his disappointment. The omega didn't leave the bedroom while he got ready though. He just paced the room and then pulled Quill out of the room the second he was presentable. They went downstairs and straight out the door with barely a "be right back" to Meredith who had been watching tv in the living room, and suddenly, Quill was driving to the mall.

He was just barely awake enough to do that, and his yawn was evidence enough.

"I thought you finished all of your Christmas shopping." Quill says.  
"Well, I did, but then I thought of something perfect and I _have_ to get it for her." Scott explains.  
The alpha can't help but smile. "You're lucky I love you or I wouldn't have gotten out of bed this early."

Scott's eyes widened and Quill looked over at him when the omega snapped his head in his direction. The blush that adorned the Omega's cheeks was practically a work of art, but then Quill realized what he had said and he looked back at the road with his own blush. He hadn't meant to say it so casually. Well, not that it was a bad thing, it was true...but he had plans. He wanted to tell him how he felt in a more special way but plans clearly never worked and the universe had its own ideas.

His brain obviously needed a talking to...or was it his heart? Ugh. He felt like he was in one of those cheesy romantic Christmas movies. 

"...you do?" Scott finally asks quietly after a couple of somewhat uncomfortable minutes. 

The alpha was just about to say that he had an awful brain to mouth filter, but then the smell of oranges filled the car. The smell of a happy and hopeful omega that almost made him pull over just so he could scent and revel in the fact that _he_ made Scott feel this way. Quill settled for smiling as his answer and focused on getting to the mall. Scott took his smile as the alpha intended and Quill was pretty sure his car was forever going to smell of Scott by the time he pulled into the mall's parking lot.

He wasn't complaining in the slightest.

The citrus scent was slightly interrupted by bitter cinnamon when Quill saw how busy the mall was when they got inside, and even Scott faltered a bit at the crowds. He looked determined to get Meredith whatever it was he wanted to get her though, so before Scott could wander off, Quill led him to a nearby coffee shop to get some breakfast. He was starving since he was dragged out of bed and straight to the car, and he had a feeling that Scott hadn't eaten yet either. The alpha bought a few breakfast sandwiches that were hot and fresh, and handed one to Scott before finally allowing the omega to wander while they munched.

"So what exactly is it you have to get Mom?" Quill asks after swallowing his first mouthful.  
"I…um…" Scott stammers and then silences himself with a bite of his sandwich. "You'll see in a minute."  
"Okay." The alpha shrugs.

They walked for a little bit and Quill paused when they passed a music store. He always went in whenever he came to the mall, but they were here for one thing and then getting out of the crowds.

Scott seemed to sense his dilemma though and pointed a little further. "You can go in, the store I need to go to is just a little further."  
Quill hesitates. "...do you have your phone?"  
"Yeah. I'll buy it and come right back."  
"Alright. I'll be here." He replies after taking their trash and throwing it into a nearby trash can.

His alpha _did not_ like watching Scott walk further away. This was the first time he was leaving Scott by himself in a public place that wasn't school and it made his skin crawl. Quill ignored the urge to follow the omega though and went into the music store to browse their small collection of old music. They had a little bit of everything and even had records and cassette tapes that gave him a bit of nostalgia.

Not even five minutes passed before sharp mint reached his nose and Scott bowled into him and tucked himself into Quill's side. The alpha didn't even get the chance to ask what was wrong because he heard a shrill screech from a female omega that marched in their direction with a male alpha following closely behind.

"Alpha stealing brat!" The girl practically yells, and Quill growls when she swipes at Scott.  
" **Hey!** " he barks out with his Voice. "Get the fuck away from him!"  
The other Alpha didn't like that and stepped forward until he was chest to chest with Quill.

Quill took great pleasure in watching the older alpha flinch when he stood at his full height.

"Who are you to use your Voice on my Omega?!" The man growls.  
"I wouldn't have to if she wasn't attacking _mine_."  
"Yours? I don't see a bondmark!"  
"That's none of your business! Especially when I can see your omega has yours!" Quill bites out. "There's a law against bonding with more than one and you sure as shit weren't looking to pack with mine! So take your harpy, quit harassing my omega, and **get lost**!"

Quill was seething. He really fucking hated alphas like him. Ones that had no regard for the omega they did claim as their mate. If he continued with looking at other omegas, he could very well find one he liked better and leave his bondmate to fend for herself when the bond eventually broke. Breaking a bond unceremoniously and without professional help could be deadly, which was why it was against the law to prowl for more. It was gross misconduct as well. What a pig. 

The girl's anger was justified, she was just directing it at the wrong person. Quill would bet anything that Scott was minding his own business when the other alpha sidled up to him and…

He was never leaving Scott alone again.

"I could say the same to you. You shouldn't let him flaunt himself around. Keep him in check." The older alpha says and Quill could feel himself losing to his alpha every passing second.  
"I won't repeat myself." He warns.  
"He stinks anyway."

That was the final straw. Quill had every intention to wipe the floor with this guy, but when he lifted his arm to do so...it was restrained. Scott must have sensed his anger (or saw him clenching his fist), and held his arm, letting the couple leave the store without a souvenir from him. It would have been a great reminder to the alpha to maybe not roll up on every unbonded omega.

Instead, he gently grabbed Scott by the back of his neck and led him through the crowds to one of the quiet sections reserved to help both alphas and omegas calm down. There were many littered throughout the mall and usually consisted of a few couches and were walled off from the noise of the crowd. Sometimes they were used for members of a pack that got seperated and overwhelmed so they had somewhere quiet to sit until they were found. The room also had security cameras so couples couldn't use it for sex, and if they tried, they would be escorted out by security. They were regularly monitored to keep it a safe place and even had a call button if an omega felt threatened.

The room they arrived at was blessedly empty, and once Quill leads Scott to a couch and sits down, he looks over the younger teen with a gentle rumble before pulling him close to scent. The omega was anxious and happily let himself be led to scent and relax, and while he did, it helped Quill calm down too.

"Something tells me you were minding your own business when he came up to you?" A nod. "Thought so. Did he touch you?" The omega curled against him shakes his head and Quill felt himself relax some more. "Good. Once you're feeling better, I'll go with you to get Mom's present okay?"

It only took about ten minutes, but the sharp mint slowly changed to a light citrusy scent. During that time, Quill had kept his arms firmly around Scott and the change in smell slowly helped him calm down as well. In fact, he was so calm that he was starting to doze off. The effect Scott had on him was potent.

"Alpha?" Scott mumbles and Quill snaps out of his daze. "I'm okay now."  
"Yeah?" The alpha gently releases his hold on Scott and the omega leans away. "Come on."

They get up from the couch and he struggles to shake the daze away until they leave the room. Scott's smell clearly filled the room but the automatic scent neutralizers would take care of that. Each room had a window that opened to help with the process and it would be ready for the next person in no time.

"I'm going to need a proper nap when we get home." Quill jokes as they walked to a home goods store.  
"I think I do too." Scott admits as he walks over to a shelf and grabs a spice rack organizer.  
"I knew there was something else she wanted!" Quill exclaims and follows Scott to the counter. "I couldn't for the life of me remember what it was though. You'd think with how often she complains about not being able to find the spice she wants that I would remember."  
"You would think." 

Scott smirks and buys the organizer, and they were finally on their way out of the mall. They did stop for hot chocolate and cider at one of the coffee stalls on the way out and Scott happily drank his on the way to the car. They were already halfway through their drinks when they got to the car and Scott put Meredith's gift in the backseat before getting in the passenger seat up front. Quill meanwhile, started the car and turned on the heater, and rumbled quietly when the omega practically purred all the way home. The heater was really for Scott. He was the one that got cold easily, hence one of the reasons he had taken to curling closer to Quill when winter set in. The alpha was a walking heater.

A ping from Quill's phone draws Scott's attention, and he grabs the Alpha's phone and unlocks it to read the message. "Your mom says she's running to the store with your grandpa. She needs a few things for breakfast and dinner tomorrow. She asked if you wanted anything."  
"Hmm...no. I don't think so." He glances over to see Scott responding when there's another ping and the omega pouts. "What?"  
"She knew I was going to ask for juice."

Quill laughs and drives the rest of the way home, and when he parks, they get out of the car and hurry inside to escape the biting wind. Scott scurries upstairs to wrap Meredith's gift, and Quill sits on the couch to watch tv until a couple minutes later when he lays on the couch instead. He was already beginning to doze off and was just about to fall asleep when he felt Scott join him by lying on top of him. His nose found the Alpha's scent gland and he sighed contently, causing his orange smell to fill the air again.

That was all Quill needed to fall asleep. 

He was partially pulled out of sleep when he heard the front door close, but when he heard his mother and grandfather talking, he let himself drift off again. He heard some bags being put on the kitchen counter and then footsteps walked into the living room, followed by a fond sigh.

"Inseparable." Meredith states quietly, and a blanket was thrown over them. "Where's the camera?"  
"I think in the hall closet Mer." Tim responds. "Blackmail?"  
"Don't be silly. They're adorable and I need something to remind myself how cute they can be when they sass me."  
"Blackmail for future pups then."  
"...maybe."

Pups? Sheesh. They kiss twice and his mother is already getting excited for pups. She would probably be stuck waiting for another five years...but Quill could see himself having pups with Scott. There was no way in hell he was letting the omega slip through his fingers. He would do anything to keep Scott.

Right now that simply meant he would wrap an arm around him and rumble happily as he fell back asleep.


	10. Chapter 10

Temptation.

Quill was faced with it ever since the incident at the mall and honestly, it was hard. Scott was curling up with him even more often than usual, purring and scenting him like his life depended on it, and _tilting his neck_. He constantly offered his exposed neck to the alpha and Quill had to keep himself from taking that offer. He nearly salivated every time but he managed to keep it to obnoxious scenting which made the omega purr even more. Scott was even more attached to his hip than ever.

It even carried over to when they returned to school after winter break. Scott stuck close to Quill and the smell of oranges was a constant reminder of the omega's happiness. It turned some heads but one snarl from Quill had them minding their own business. They parted for class and when lunch came around, Quill decided to sit with Scott instead of his friends like he usually did. 

"Here." Quill says and pulls a mandarin orange out of his lunch bag to offer to Scott. "Did anyone give you trouble?"  
Scott takes the orange with a pleased purr and then shakes his head. "No. Some people looked but that was all."  
"Good."

They ate their lunch side by side and every so often, Quill would hand feed Scott something. It wasn't even intentional. It was a subconscious action that gave the alpha another whiff of the oranges and sunshine he loved so much, and that was all he cared about. To make Scott happy and to keep him that way. Quill didn't care about the curious glances that were steadily growing in number by the second, but he _did_ care when Rachel walked over and leaned over the table to look right into his eyes. Her scent of bergamot and vanilla was drowned out by a scent enhancer that she was more than generous in using. Instead of enhancing her natural smell, it overpowered it and made Quill's nose burn.

"What are you doing sitting over here, _Alpha_?" She purrs and he scrunches his nose.

Being called Alpha by her was unappealing and he wanted nothing to do with it.

"Sitting with my omega." He finally says and she purses her lips.  
" _Him_?" Rachel narrows her eyes at Scott. "He's insignificant. Not worthy of your attention."

The moment Quill smelled mint, he jumped to his feet and slammed his hands on the table, making not just Rachel and Scott jump, but it also got the entire cafeteria to fall quiet. No doubt to watch the drama unfold...and for once Quill was happy to deliver.

"Who are you to tell me who's worthy of my attention?" Quill growls and nearly smirks when Rachel flinches. "I've had enough of your attitude and sense of entitlement so let me say this clearly so even you will understand. I don't want you."

Quill decides to take it a step further and leans down to scent at Scott's neck, making the omega tense up in surprise. The smell of sunshine and oranges that began to seep through the mint was enough indication that his attention wasn't unwelcome. The alpha gave his scent gland a small nip and it left Scott sighing as Quill turned red eyes toward Rachel. The expression on her face was a mix between horror, surprise, and even scandal.

"He's the one I want. He's my omega and nothing will change my mind." Quill rumbles dangerously. "If you or anyone else gives him any grief, you'll have me to answer to."  
"He doesn't have--"  
"That's none of your business!" Quill roars and Rachel flinches back. "Now turn your attention somewhere else because you're wasting it on me."

To his satisfaction, Rachel backed away and left the cafeteria without a word and Quill's chest heaved from anger. He was sick and tired of others looking down on Scott. For thinking of him as a tool or insignificant compared to others. Nobody knew him like Quill did. Nobody knew how smart he was, how funny he was...nobody knew how amazing he was. If Scott had the courage to, he would wear his heart on his sleeve and show how wonderful he was.

"Alpha." Scott gently grabs Quill's wrist and he looks down at him. "Sit down."

The red in the alpha's eyes slowly fade back to green as he sits back down, and the cafeteria starts buzzing again with the usual chatter. It was likely about the recent incident, but Quill knew it would blow over soon...but then he realized he had publicly announced… _them_. Maybe it was for the best.

"Finish eating." Scott murmurs and pushes Quill's sandwich closer.  
The alpha takes the sandwich and takes a bite. He swallows after a few moments of chewing and then looks at Scott. "I'm sorry. They look down on you and I hate it...I snapped."  
"Did you mean it?" Scott asks quietly and Quill sighs.  
"Of course I did."  
"Then why are you apologizing?"

Quill glances into golden eyes and huffs softly before smiling and turning his attention back to his lunch. They finish their food in somewhat comfortable silence, ignoring the periodic glances from the rest of the student body, and after they throw away their garbage, Scott takes Quill's hand and leads him away. The alpha follows quietly as he's led to the library, and Scott pulls him into an empty space between the bookcases and out of sight from the few students in the library where he has them drop their backpacks on the floor.

Only then does Scott pull Quill's head down to scent and calm him.

As always, it was effective. The smell of omega, _his_ omega, soothed him into a metaphorical puddle. He ran his nose against Scott's neck and wished for the hundredth time that he could leave his mark, but he wouldn't. Not yet.

"Better?" Scott eventually whispers.  
Quill sighs. "Yeah."

They stood there for a few more minutes, after Quill pulled Scott into his arms to thoroughly scent the omega, and only then did he completely calm. Normally it wasn't necessary to scent Scott since he always smelled like Quill anyways, but after today, he needed that extra reassurance. He always wanted to very blatantly make the other alphas think twice in case the warning in the cafeteria wasn't enough. An alpha scenting an omega was a warning that the omega was claimed and right now if someone tried anything with Scott while Quill was elsewhere in school, Quill was going to blow a gasket.

The end of lunch bell rings, breaking Quill's trance and he pulls away with a rumble. "Are you okay?" He asks.  
"Yeah." Scott grabs his backpack and shoulders it. "Now go to class. I'll see you after school."  
"Tell me--"  
"I _know_."

Scott then heads out of the library for class and Quill shakes the rest of his trance fog out of his head before grabbing his backpack and leaving the library. He walks to his next class and sits down on a stool at one of the benches of his science class. His friend Eric, who had already been sitting there, scrunches his nose a bit and looks at the alpha.

"Either you managed some kind of quickie or he climbed all over you."  
Quill looks at him in confusion. "What are you talking about?"  
"You smell like an omega." Eric points out. "In fact, you almost always do lately."  
"Oh...we just...we hang out a lot at home." Quill explains. 

His alpha rumbled happily at the thought of smelling like Scott though. Alpha's were more obnoxious and direct about their scenting but omegas were more subtle. They scented by cuddling or hugging, and Scott had plenty of time to scent Quill in the library. Scott was still discreet about it, but it made the alpha incredibly happy knowing that his omega was happy to claim him as well. It made Quill feel like he was doing his job of keeping Scott safe and happy like he had promised. That he was trusted and seen as a potential mate.

It only made his desire to officially claim the omega that much harder to suppress. Maybe when Scott was in his last year of high school.

But what would happen once Quill graduated? Scott would still be at school and if he left him unmarked, he could leave him vulnerable to bullying and other alphas since he wouldn't be at school anymore. The thought made Quill's blood boil and Eric looked at him with his nose scrunched up again.

"Would you calm down? Burnt cinnamon isn't a very nice smell you know. What are you even angry about?"  
Quill deflates and rubs his neck. "Sorry...it's nothing."  
"Fine, but calm down. You're starting to stink."

Quill nods and turns his attention to his teacher once class starts, and pushes his worries to the back of his mind. He needed a proper calming session with Scott but that was going to have to wait until they got home. He needed to wrap himself around his omega and lose himself in oranges and sunshine...and purring. It made him happy when Scott was content enough to purr. He only ever did it because of Quill anyway. He was more open with Meredith and Tim, but they never made him happy or content enough to purr. The best they got was a smile and Quill was pretty sure his mother was a little miffed that she couldn't make Scott happy like Quill could.

That thought was what helped him get through the rest of the day. At the end of the day, he went to his locker to grab or put away his things, and part way through doing that, Scott ducks under his arm and presses into his side as close as possible. Sharp mint reached his nose and just as Quill was about to ask what scared him, thunder boomed loudly. Scott shivers and fists Quill's sweater as the alpha closes his locker and Quill rumbles gently to soothe him.

Scott hated thunder.

"Come on. Let's go home." Quill murmurs.  
"I don't want to go out there."  
"We'll be home before you know it. Then we'll have hot chocolate and cider and cuddle up. How does that sound?"  
Scott slowly looks up at him and the alpha notes the omega gold in fearful eyes. "In your room?"  
Quill chuckles. "Yeah. My room."

After some hesitation, Scott nods and releases his grip on Quill and allows the alpha to lead him outside. The thunder rolls angrily again and Quill quickly leads Scott to the car when the omega trembles. Once they're safely in the car, Quill takes off his sweater and offers it to Scott who takes it immediately and covers himself in it. It wasn't much comfort but it would at least take the edge off enough so that Scott didn't try to cling to him while Quill drove them home. Hearing the occasional whine was motivation enough to start the car and drive once they were both buckled in.

The second he left the parking lot of the school, the rain came down hard and the alpha was forced to slow down. As a distraction from at least some of the thunder, Quill turns on the radio just loud enough to be heard clearly, but not enough to hurt their ears...and he was glad it was working in this storm. His windshield wipers were going at their highest setting while he drove as carefully as possible, and when they were about five minutes from home, he stopped at a red light and looked over at Scott. The poor omega was still trembling and clinging desperately to his sweater and Quill reached over to gently grab the back of his neck and run his thumb against Scott's neck.

"Hey, we're almost home. You doing okay?"

All he got was a brief nod in response but that was expected. He drops his hand a few moments later in preparation for the light to turn green, and when it does, he gently presses on the gas. He barely got over the line when he heard a car honking from his left and when he looked, all he saw were lights before something slammed into the driver's side of the car. Everything after happened so fast but somehow still in slow motion as glass crunched and metal screeched, and the car spun out until it came to a stop against a light pole on Quill's side. Black quickly began to fill his vision and all he could think about was Scott. He didn't even know if he was okay. Quill couldn't move at all and he felt numb when he tried to do anything. 

He thought he heard someone yell "alpha", but could do and say nothing as he was finally forced to succumb to oblivion.


	11. Chapter 11

Fire. It felt like his blood was on fire and his bones were burning. He didn't want to move in fear of completely falling apart, but through his suffering he could smell bitter mint and his attention was redirected to its source. Something in him was more concerned about the source of the minty smell and he heard... talking? It was garbled and urgent, and the mint smell soon disappeared. He wanted it back. It was a decent distraction from the pain, but it seemed like forever before it finally did come back. The mint smell wasn't as strong but he sensed it almost immediately and fortunately it didn't go away again.

When Quill finally woke with a pained groan, he opened his eyes to find himself in a hospital room with the irritating beeping of a machine next to him. He ignored it in favor of looking around the room, but he couldn't turn his head very much. When he first tried, pain shot throughout his entire body so he had to work with the idea that any kind of movement would hurt. Tim was asleep in the chair by the table with his head hung and snoring lightly, his mother was nowhere to be seen...but Scott...he was in a chair by Quill's bedside and fast asleep with his arms folded on the side of the bed and his head resting on them. The alpha slowly reaches over to run his fingers through the Omega's hair and he startles when Scott jolts awake. Pain briefly flares through his body at the sudden movement and he winces as the sharp mint fills the room again.

"Alpha!" Scott breathes out.

With Scott sitting up and looking at him, Quill could assess any possible injuries he might have sustained in the accident, but there thankfully didn't seem to be any. The omega had a butterfly bandage on his temple and maybe a few scratches here and there, but otherwise he looked unharmed. Quill had never been so relieved.

"Hey…" he croaks out. "You okay?"  
Scott frowns. "I'm fine. You...you got really hurt though."  
"How broken am I?" Quill chuckles and the omega points to his left side.  
"A couple of broken ribs, broken arm, bruising from the seatbelt, cuts on your face from the glass, and…" Scott points toward his left shoulder. "A clavicle fracture. It needed surgery." He whispers.

When the mint grows a little stronger, Quill pats the area next to him.

"Come here." He mumbles softly and smiles as painlessly as possible when Scott doesn't argue and gets on the bed next to him. The alpha wraps his arm around the younger and rumbles softly as the omega curls as close to him as possible. "I'm okay omega." He says just as quietly and the minty smell abates to barely anything.

Having Scott nearby kept him distracted from his pain and it was even more soothing when he started purring. Quill was pretty sure it was meant to soothe him and it just made him rumble in response. He couldn't do that very much though. If he rumbled too much or too hard, he would start to hurt so he had to stick with a gentle rumble. It helped soothe the omega regardless which was what the alpha was aiming for. They laid like that for the next few minutes, and just when Quill was about to ask where Meredith was, the door to his room opened and his mother walked in with what looked like bags of food. The moment she looked over at him and saw him awake, she rushed to put the bags on the table by Tim who was just starting to wake up, and then hurried over to his bedside.

"Oh, baby...how are you feeling? You had us all worried."  
"Hurting…" Quill admits softly. "How long do I have to be here?"

He wanted to be in his own bed with the comforting smells of his family instead of the sanitized smell of the hospital. It wasn't very calming and he was pretty sure the doctors wouldn't let Scott stay in bed with him. Even if he snarled and growled.

"They might let you go home tomorrow since you already had the surgery for your collarbone." Meredith says. "Even though your arm is in a cast, you'll have to wear a sling until you're healed."  
"As long as I'm in my own bed." Quill sighs. "How...how long has it been?"  
"Four days. You slept for three of them." Meredith says. "The doctors were starting to worry that you might have had some kind of head trauma they didn't see. If you didn't wake up today, they would have taken you in for another scan."  
Quill gently pats his mother's hand when she sighs. "I'm okay Mom."  
"Thank goodness." She says and gently kisses his forehead.  
"Are you hungry Pete? I can go see about getting you some food." Tim offers as he gets up and stretches.  
Quill nods but when pain flares up he hisses. "The less chewing I have to do, the better."  
"Broth and Jell-O it is." Tim says as he leaves the room.

In the meantime, Meredith lured Scott off the bed to eat their dinner of tacos, and Quill reluctantly let him go. His own food arrived shortly after and Tim and a nurse lifted his bed so he could sit up. When he reached out to grab his spoon and try to eat though...it was too painful. While his dominant hand wasn't injured in the accident, he still had some bruising that made every movement hurt. Fortunately, Meredith was quick to offer to help him and quickly finished her dinner so she could feed her son. A part of Quill had hoped that Scott would be the one to do it instead, but at the same time, that would have been a bigger blow to his pride. 

The alpha in him reminded him that he was the one that was supposed to protect and provide. It wasn't so bad when he accepted the help from his mother though.

"Peter? Are you getting tired?" Meredith suddenly asks and Quill blinks his eyes open.  
"Hnn? Yeah...a little." The alpha mumbles tiredly. He only managed to eat about half of his dinner before he was dozing off.  
"Okay. Get some sleep baby." She says quietly and moves the bed back down a little. It was just enough of an incline for him to sleep somewhat comfortably without putting too much strain on his shoulder.  
"Thanks Mom."

Meredith purrs softly in response and gently fixes the blankets on him as he falls asleep.

======

Quill, to his relief, was discharged the next afternoon and was taken home in Meredith's car. His had been totaled in the accident but according to his grandfather, plenty of witnesses came forward to tell authorities that Quill wasn't at fault. The person that had hit them had run a red light and when the alpha saw the pictures of his car, he was surprised he wasn't dead...or that Scott hadn't gotten more hurt.

Tim helped Quill up to his room, which had taken a couple of minutes because of the pain, and Meredith and Scott went up ahead of him to get his room ready. The moment Quill laid down with some of his pillows to prop him up, he sighed in relief. His bed compared to the hospital ones was like a cloud. Once she made sure he was comfortable, Meredith went downstairs with Tim and Scott sat on the bed to keep Quill company. 

They sat in a comfortable silence, with only the sound of Quill's tv playing a rerun of a show he'd already seen twice, and Scott did his homework. He hadn't gone back to school since the accident yet as Meredith and the doctors wanted to make sure that nothing came up that could have been missed at first. The omega was thankfully fine and really only had scratches to speak of. 

"How's the pain?" Scott eventually asks.  
"Better than yesterday." Quill almost laughs at the skeptical look the omega gives him. "Honest. Didn't Ma tell you I'm a fast healer?"  
"Do you need any of your pain killers?"  
"Nah. Not right now at least." Quill says and Scott nods in acceptance. "I'm...I'm glad you're okay." He adds softly.   
" _Me?!_ " The omega asks incredulously. "You…" Pain fills Scott's eyes and Quill frowns.  
"Scott?" Quill reaches out and winces when his body protests the movement. "Hey…look at me."  
Scott exhales heavily and looks over at him. "I thought you were dead. You weren't responding and when we got to the hospital, they were really worried about you. I was too...but they made me leave because they said I was upsetting you--"  
"Hey hey hey. Okay, I'm okay. Come here."

Sharp mint had filled the air as Scott told him his worries and Quill was determined to make that go away. When the omega carefully climbs over his legs to curl into his better side, Quill wraps an arm around him and rumbles softly. He couldn't do it very loudly still but it was enough to soothe Scott and make some of the mint smell go away. They laid there quietly as they watched TV for the next half hour until Scott eventually turned his attention to Quill's shoulder. 

"Can I check it?" Scott asks.  
"For what?"  
"To make sure it's healing right. They told us what to look for." He replies.  
Quill smirks. "Aww. My own personal nurse. He's cute too."

The blush that adorned Scott's face was worth the pain caused by his poking and prodding after the omega gently pushed his shirt aside. When the bandage was removed from his clavicle, Scott's brows furrowed as he gently ran his fingers across it. Quill was distracted though. Scott was in a perfect position for his neck to be in the alpha's line of sight and it had him nearly salivating again. An unmarked neck of an omega he wanted to make his mate. Scott...was everything he ever wanted in omega if he really thought about it. He was nice to look at of course, but there was more to him. Scott was funny, attentive, had a couple of cute quirks like the thing he did with his cheeks when he was focusing (or the sleep talking), and he didn't cower. At least not from him.

Scott made Quill feel like a model alpha.

Just...a little broken right now.

"Hey...no tempting broken alphas." Quill whines dramatically.  
"I'm not doing anything."  
"Okay well I guess keep doing nothing." The alpha mumbles and leans forward just enough to mouth at Scott's unmarked neck.  
"What are you doing?! No! You're supposed to be healing!" Scott sputters and tries to move away without hurting Quill.  
"'m healing."

Quill grunts when Scott gently pushes his head back against his pillows and redresses his shoulder. It still hurt to turn his head too far so he had no idea what it looked like, but if Scott wasn't freaking out or concerned about it, neither was he.

"Will my cute nurse give me a sponge bath next?" Quill smirks and Scott sits back.  
"Are you sure the hospital didn't kick you out?"  
"Oh pfft. Maybe. I don't really remember since I was still hopped up on painkillers." The alpha cackles.  
Scott rolls his eyes. "Maybe I'll spoon feed you if you behave."  
"I'll take what I can get."

Scott smiles and carefully climbs over him to leave the room and Quill relaxes into the pillows. At the hospital he didn't get a chance to see if the bruises he got from the accident faded away, so with that in mind, he grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it up. Considering the severity of the bruising when he was admitted, he should still be black and blue but all he saw was...yellow. And that was being overdramatic. His bruises were already almost completely gone and he was barely sore. He really did heal fast.

It was actually kind of weird.

Bruises from a punch or from some other small reason was something he shrugged off but no one healed like this. All of the cuts and scrapes were healed too, _including_ the ones that needed stitches, and there were only white and pink scars to remind him that they were there. What about his shoulder then? Scott _did_ make a face and now Quill was curious. It was the most painful thing he was dealing with now but it wasn't as bad as it was the day before. So he got up.

That still hurt but he managed and walked into his bathroom and turned on the light. Quill pushed the collar of his shirt aside to peel back the fresh bandage Scott had taped on and gawked at his reflection in the mirror. It had been his biggest injury but already it was almost completely healed. There was very little blood that still came through the stitches, but Quill was pretty sure even then he didn't need them. His skin was almost completely knitted back together and all he had to show for it was a raised pink scar.

"What the fuck…?" Quill whispers to himself. "That's not normal…"

His broken ribs still hurt of course, but just like everything else, that pain was dwindling away. His arm was casted and in a sling, which the sling would be removed once he could move his arm with no pain in his shoulder...he shouldn't be able to move around. At least not without more pain than he was actually in and right now it was bearable. He didn't need the painkillers.

"Don't think about it Quill...just consider yourself extremely lucky." He mumbles to himself as he fixes the bandage.  
"What are you doing out of bed?" Scott huffs from the doorway.  
"I got curious. I'm going back so don't yell at me." Quill jokes.  
"Good. Your mom made you some soup." Scott tells him as Quill turns off his bathroom light and gets back in bed.  
"Ooooo... please tell me it's tomato soup and she made me a grilled cheese to go with it."  
"I'll help you with the soup but you're on your own with the sandwich. She even cut it into triangles." The omega teases.  
"I think I can handle a sandwich."  
"We'll see in a few seconds."  
"Have I ever told you how much I love it when you're a brat?" Quill teases.  
Scott blushes. "I figured you wouldn't want to be coddled or you would go crazy."  
"Aww. You know me so well!"  
"Just eat your hot ketchup juice."

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think so far! Comments motivate me!
> 
> Also there's an Antlord server if you're interested/would like to join! Here's the link:
> 
> https://discord.gg/kc6AcPk


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